WeWork to cut 300 jobs globally as inflation weighs on workspace spending

Co-working major WeWork on Thursday said it plans to layoff 300 employees across countries to cut costs as high inflation weighs on office workspace spending.

The New York-headquartered firm, which offers workstations, private offices and customized floors, had enjoyed a pandemic-driven shift to flexible work outside traditional offices.

But with companies cutting their spending, WeWork is looking to reduce its real estate footprint and workforce to prepare for a looming recession.

The company announced today that it expects to report fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA above its earlier expectations.

WeWork was downgraded one notch by Fitch Ratings as the office-sharing upstart continues to lose money and struggles to capitalize on a return-to-office push happening at companies globally.

Fitch lowered its rating on WeWork to CCC from CCC+ , saying its challenges will only be exacerbated in the coming year as companies trim workers, scale back spending in anticipation of a recession and move slowly to retreat from hybrid work schedules.

Fitch also downgraded the company’s senior unsecured bonds one notch to CC from CCC-.

In November last year, WeWork announced its exit from 40 locations in the US and said it expected fourth-quarter revenue between $870 million and $890 million, below Wall Street's target of $923.8 million.

It also forecast adjusted EBITDA to be negative $65 million to negative $85 million.

WeWork made its public markets debut in October 2021 following a merger with special purpose acquisition company BowX Acquisition Corp. It failed in its first effort to go public in 2019.