WeWork’s I.P.O. Plan Is Filed With Regulators - The New York Times

WeWork, the co-working company, has filed confidentially to go public, the company announced on Monday, becoming the latest privately held giant to consider heading to the stock markets.

The company initially filed paperwork to go public with regulators in December. Changes to that filing were made last week, Adam Neumann, a co-founder of WeWork, wrote in a memo sent to employees that was reviewed by The New York Times.

“We have regularly focused on how to take our business to the next level in every aspect,” Mr. Neumann wrote.

Like many of the other richly valued start-ups that have planned their stock-market debuts, WeWork posts steep losses — and shows no sign of turning a profit anytime soon.

The company was valued at $47 billion in its last fund-raising round, including the new money raised. That private valuation would be put to the test by the I.P.O. process. While WeWork’s revenue is growing quickly — it doubled last year to $1.8 billion — so are its losses, which more than doubled to $1.9 billion.

Those companies, like WeWork, Uber and Lyft, have argued that growing quickly is more important, and will eventually prove more lucrative, than breaking even right now.

Begun as a co-working space in Manhattan eight years ago, WeWork has become one of the world’s biggest corporate landlords. It continues to expand rapidly into new markets.

The initial filing to regulators was made before the company’s talks to sell a majority stake in itself to SoftBank, the Japanese technology conglomerate, ran into trouble. SoftBank ultimately invested a further $2 billion in the company, for a total of $10.5 billion.

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