WeWork has announced that it filed an IPO in late December, hoping public investors will trust that the nine-year-old coworking company can turn a profit.
This news follows that the company had doubled its losses to $1.9 billion last year, as well as their revenue to $1.8 billion.
The company said it filed a draft registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission soon after its largest backer SoftBank opted out of buying a controlling stake in the business.
WeWork isn’t the only private decacorn company, those with valuations of at least $10 billion, to file to go public in the past few months, but it stands out from the pack though being one of the largest corporate landlords in the world with a footprint across 425 locations.
Although the company maintains that it is in a strong financial position, some critics are concerned about how the business will weather an economic downturn particularly due to its reputation of burning through cash and its model of allowing members to opt out of short term leases with ease.
“We’re looking at building this business out, not just maximizing profitability over the next one to two years,” said Michael Gross, the company’s vice chairman.
