In an effort to cut costs and remediate its underperforming locations, WeWork announced plans for headcount reductions, which will account for approximately 300 roles in its global workforce.
Despite the company enjoying a spike in demand over the last several months and a potentially higher-than-anticipated Q4 revenue report for 2022, WeWork has made no secret of its struggles to become profitable, AllWork.Space reported.
In the last 12 months, WeWork closed 40 U.S. locations and confirmed its Q4 revenue would likely fall between $870 and $890 million, much lower than Wall Street expectations of $923.8 million. The locations were singled out for closure because they didn’t meet the company’s design criteria, were obsolete or were in a market with “oversupply,” CEO Sandeep Mathrani stated.
Following this latest announcement of staff layoffs, the company’s shares fell 3.5% to $1.53 in morning trade in a broadly weaker market.
Though WeWork had enjoyed a pandemic-driven shift to flexible work outside traditional offices, an uncertain economic environment is forcing companies to reduce their real estate footprint, which is causing challenges for coworking operators globally.