In a startling disclosure, co-working space WeWork said it owes $18 billion in rent, according to the Financial Times. This was revealed by the office leasing start-up in the documents for its first ever bond sale.
WeWork is planning to raise funds through a $500 million bond sale. It’s the first time the company is raising money through debt. It has raised billions in venture capital from investors including $4.4 billion from SoftBank.
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The company has more than 14 million square feet in office space, with suitably massive lease obligations – though WeWork does have the option of closing locations if it can’t pay those bills, said the report.
Revenue from memberships more than doubled in 2017 to $822 million but expenses also more than doubled to $1.81 billion the same year. Net losses in 2017 came to $934 million, according to Bloomberg.
According to its bond documents, the company had 220,000 members as of March 2018 and 251,000 desks across 234 global locations.