WeWork Sees Signs Of Recovery In Smaller Q2 Loss Of $923M

WeWork is at the point of recovery where it sees its dwindling quarterly losses as longer-term gains. 

The coworking giant reported on Friday that it lost $923M during the second quarter of 2021 on revenues of $593M. That figure is down considerably from the company’s loss in Q1, which came in at a little more than $2B, though it is up from a loss of $863.8M during Q2 2020. 

The company reports that desk sales in Q2 totaled 98,000, the equivalent of about 5.9M SF, increasing each month during the quarter, though all of the gain occurred before news of the delta variant of the coronavirus gained traction in the United States and elsewhere. WeWork desk sales in April totaled 21,000, while in May the total was 29,000. The number spiked to 48,000 in June.

WeWork characterized the Q2 numbers as indicative of its recovery, and CEO Sandeep Mathrani said in a statement that demand from businesses of all sizes accelerated steadily into July.

As of the end of the second quarter, WeWork’s worldwide portfolio included 763 locations in 38 countries, with about 937,000 workstations. The company has about 517,000 total memberships

Coworking as a whole had a good second quarter. Demand for such space increased 41% nationally from Q1 to Q2 of this year, according to Upsuite. Average flex office listing views were up 9% from the first three months of 2020. 

There have been large spikes in demand in some places, such as in New York City. Industrious saw a 156% increase in the total number of seats sold in the city during Q2 2021 compared to Q1, which was already up by 20% over its pre-pandemic levels.