WeWork, the flexible space provider that filed for bankruptcy protection this month, reported a wider third-quarter loss because of costs to reduce its real estate and declines in large corporate memberships at a time when some landlords oppose its restructuring plan.
The company in Chapter 11 has said it's moving to renegotiate its leases with nearly all its landlords to try to reduce costs, an approach that's made more difficult by slow return-to-office rates and economic uncertainty that's already hitting the sector hard.
A WeWork spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CoStar News the third-quarter results don’t “reflect the substantial progress” WeWork has made since October, adding it’s “confident” that the steps it’s taking will help it “build a financially stronger business.”
In an example of the struggles the company is having in convincing landlords to renegotiate, a court filing Tuesday by Kato International, owner of the Class A office building housing WeWork’s headquarters at 12 E. 49th St. in New York, objected to the flexible office space provider’s request to “reject or assume executory contracts and unexpired leases.” WeWork became a tenant in the Midtown East tower in 2016 with a lease for 10 floors before over time expanding to 20 floors, Kato said in the filing.
WeWork is the largest tenant with 267,265 square feet in the 705,105-square-foot building, according to CoStar data, and has a footprint at least more than 10 times that of the next tenant.
“Reluctantly, today, Kato finds itself forced to request that this Court deny much of the relief sought by WeWork because it violates applicable law, is contrary to public policy and threatens to set dangerous precedents that strike at the very foundation of due process and fairness that underlies the bankruptcy process in the United States,” Kato said in the filing Tuesday. It added that WeWork "appears to be trying to play a game of 'Gotcha' with unsuspecting mom-and-pop landlords in order to force them into what are effectively new leases that WeWork would otherwise be unable to obtain in any legal or consensual manner.”
In another example, New York landlord Walter & Samuels, a major unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy case, voiced its "limited objection" and "reservation of rights." The company listed three of its properties — at 419 Park Avenue S, 315 W. 36th St. and 130 Madison Ave. — that are among the 69 unexpired leases WeWork has sought to reject.
WeWork didn’t immediately respond to a CoStar News request seeking a comment about landlord objections.
Rejected Leases
As part of WeWork's restructuring plan, New York bears the brunt of WeWork's rejected leases, with 40 among the list publicized so far. The money-losing company has said it's renegotiating with at least 400 landlords around the world, as its lease burden is the single-biggest obstacle to turning profitable.
WeWork also has struck a debt-for-equity swap plan with its lenders led by majority shareholder SoftBank. That plan involves reducing existing funded debt by about $3 billion in exchange for equity in the new WeWork. With that plan, the company aims to come out of bankruptcy with a fraction of existing debt. WeWork’s headquarters lease isn’t part of the 69 leases it has sought to reject so far.
In a telling sign of the challenges facing WeWork, the company’s third-quarter results, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, showed while its current lease obligations dropped to $906 million from $936 million a year earlier, that amount alone topped what the company booked in revenue.
Net loss widened to $820 million from $629 million, after some $450 million of restructuring costs as WeWork wrote off assets and paid termination and other fees to get out of some locations and markets. Revenue dropped 3% to $794 million from $817 million. Its free cash flow was negative $235 million, $30 million more than a year earlier, even as the amount has declined about half from $441 million two years earlier.
Since 2019, WeWork has amended over 600 leases and executed 295 full exits, cutting about $13.3 billion in total future undiscounted fixed minimum lease cost payments, the company said.
The lease restructuring plan aside, the company looks to struggle in its home market. Third-quarter revenue in the United States fell to $305 million from $360 million, even as its revenue in the United Kingdom, Japan and other foreign countries gains, the company’s SEC filing shows. WeWork has said performance in the United States and Canada markets has lagged behind other regions, hurt in part by increased competition, including that from its landlords and an increase in sublet inventory. To be clear, some of the decline in the United States also reflects the fact it’s where WeWork has targeted a big part of its downsizing.
WeWork’s third-quarter physical occupancy rate fell to 72%, hurt by a 5% decrease in physical desk memberships, combined with a 4% drop in workstation capacity, the company said. In a bright spot, all-access and other memberships rose 9%.
Total memberships dropped 4% to 709,000 memberships from 739,000 memberships a year earlier after the rate of decline quickened to 6% since December. WeWork said the “churn” from its enterprise members, referring to companies with at least 500 employees, is a key culprit. As a case in point, enterprise memberships accounted for 38% of membership and service revenue, down from 46% a year earlier, WeWork said in the filing.