WeWork lifts veil on finances with IPO filing

WeWork owner The We Company on Wednesday filed with regulators for an initial public offering and published detailed financial statements for the first time.

The preliminary filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not give any details of the size of the offering or the exchange where the shared office space manager would list its shares.

The filing provides the most comprehensive financial picture yet of the company co-founded by its chief executive officer, Adam Neumann, in 2010. The company previously reported it lost nearly $2 billion in 2018, as it invests heavily to grow its business.

Among the disclosures in the filing, WeWork reported a net loss attributable to the company of $689.7 million in the six months ended June 30, compared with a loss of $628.1 million a year earlier.

If it goes ahead with the IPO, WeWork would be the biggest company by value to list on the US stock market this year after ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc. An IPO would come at a time when an escalating trade war between the United States and China has made investors more risk-averse to new companies listing.

WeWork was valued in January at $47 billion in a private fundraising round, according to data provider PitchBook.