US: WeWork says it expects to be out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of next month, having renegotiated or exited 90 per cent of its leases.
The company says it has made around US$8 billion in savings after court-mediated negotiations with landlords since November last year when it filed for bankruptcy.
Those savings were calculated by the amount of time left on each lease in its portfolio, a WeWork spokesperson said.
However, despite the savings, the company lost $122 million in February and $153.7 million in January.
WeWork plans to continue operating more than 20 million square feet in 20 countries, according to the company. Of those, 150 are in locations where leases were amended and 150 more are in locations where lease terms were left unchanged. It plans to close a further 150 offices that were underperforming or where talks with landlords were unsuccessful.
“We are well on our way to building a strong and sustainable WeWork,” David Tolley, WeWork’s CEO, said in a statement. “The size, scope and complexity of our real estate restructuring is unprecedented in our industry, and we’ve made remarkable progress to date optimising our building footprint.”
While WeWork has addressing its bankruptcy status, its co-founder Adam Neumann, has been raising money in an attempt to buy back the company with a bid that could range between $500 million and $900 million.
