Skift Take
The co-working giant posted a $504 million loss for the first quarter of this year, although the figures are heading in the right direction. But has it run out of steam after setting right so many wrongs in the past?
Co-working space provider WeWork spent the pandemic dealing with the repercussions of over-expansion and bad management after ousting its CEO and co-founder in 2019. As that was going on, the world's working model was changing all around it.
But are there now opportunities for the contracted brand amid the “great merging”? Does WeWork align with the (relatively) good news other sectors are now seeing, such as travel that is now bouncing back after the pandemic, or the revival of the experience economy?
It’s a "crunch year" for WeWork either way, according to one data expert.
Cost-Cutting
WeWork last week posted a $504 million net loss for the first quarter of this year — not the result it would have wanted considering easing of Covid-related restrictions, but a marked improvement on the $803 million loss over the previous three months, and miles ahead of the $2 billion loss recorded in the same period a year ago.
Part of the improvement is down to the fact WeWork has been slashing away at costs, in particular "sales, general and administrative costs," according to Cowork Intel. They were down 57 percent compared with first quarter of 2019. Now, they represent just 20 percent of total costs as apposed to 43 percent in the 2019 quarter.
Yet this may have been t
