Despite Towering Losses, American Office Rental Space Start-Up WeWork Files For IPO

Valued at $47 billion earlier in 2019, American office rental company WeWork has filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) despite a net loss of $690 million during the first six months of the year, Economic Times has reported.

The New York based company has listed an offering size of $1 billion in the filing with JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group to be its lead underwriters.

While the company had managed to double its revenue in 2018 to $1.8 billion from $886 million the previous year, its loss for the year had surged to $1.9 billion. The company is backed by Japanese Softbank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase among others.

Founded in 2011, the company has raised $8.4 billion so far both through equity and debt funding. The firm has since operationalised 528 co-working spaces across 111 cities in 29 countries. 50 per cent of its customers are based outside of the US. The company plans to operate in 169 other locations and has said that it is targeting a potential $945 billion addressable market.