Coworking firm WeWork has reportedly burned through $517 million during the third quarter of 2020 as it struggles to stay afloat throughout the pandemic.
Now, the company’s cash reserves and commitments from SoftBank are at $3.6 billion, a dip from $4.1 billion at the beginning of the third quarter.
The pandemic has ravaged through the coworking and shared office industry in general, leaving operators to explore new ways to offer their services.
However, cash-burning is not new to WeWork in particular. For instance, the company also burned through $1.25 billion in the third quarter of 2019 long before a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic.
Burning through cash is one of the main reasons Fitch Ratings downgraded the company recently, stating that the firm could burn through all of its cash by the end of 2022.
Despite these losses, CEO Sandeep Mathrani is confident the company will become profitable by 2021, citing the firm’s improvements in areas like China, South Korea and Singapore where the virus has been better controlled.
Mathrani has helped the company completely restructure its operations by renegotiating leases, laying off staffers and selling off companies that are not related to the firm’s core business.
