Trading was halted Monday for shares of WeWork, the once-prominent company at the forefront of the shared office space movement, following reports last week that indicated the company would soon file for bankruptcy protection.
Key Takeaways
- Trading was halted for WeWork—which closed at just under 84 cents last week— because of “news pending,” according to the New York Stock Exchange.
- WeWork’s stock declined by 66% last week, falling from $2.52 to a low of 82 cents, including a 46% drop after the Wall Street Journal reported the company planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- The stock has decreased by 98.5% this year after opening at $60 on Jan. 3 and reached its highest point this year ($94.34) on Feb. 2.
- WeWork did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Surprising Fact
WeWork shares reached an all-time high of $598.80 on Oct. 22, 2021, a day after the company went public.
Big Number
$47 billion. That’s how much WeWork was valued in January 2017. The company’s market cap was estimated at $270 million as of August, according to Fortune.
Related
Key Background
The Journal reported last week that WeWork is considering filing a bankruptcy petition in New Jersey as early as this week, after the company missed interest payments owed to its bondholders.
The company has an estimated $10 billion in lease obligations due through the end of 2027 and has lost an estimated $16 billion since being founded in 2010, according to the Journal. WeWork operates 777 locations across 39 countries, according to a securities filing, with a total of 906,000 workstations and 653,000 physical memberships. The company generates $502 on average per physical member.
WeWork was the sixth-most-valuable startup in the world in 2017 after cashing in on remote working trends early by providing flexible and rentable office space for companies, according to Insider, though pandemic restrictions—which emptied offices in 2020—negatively impacted the company.
SoftBank, a Japanese conglomerate, provided $5 billion in new financing for the firm in 2019. SoftBank reported in a securities filing earlier this year that its cumulative loss on investment in WeWork totaled $18.6 billion. WeWork said in a statement last month that there is “substantial doubt” the company will remain in business, citing a “slight decline in membership” and “increasing competition.”
This article originally appeared on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
