The brash founders of WeWork Cos., the global network of shared office spaces now on the cusp of going public, have officially stated their mission: "To elevate the world's consciousness."
Never mind making money first.
The signature grow-at-any-cost ethos of the unicorn era was on full display last week as WeWork filed to go public after months of fevered speculation.
Having raised more than $12 billion since its founding nine years ago, and having never turned a dime of profit, WeWork now hopes to sell billions of dollars in stock while simultaneously borrowing billions more.
It's a tall order, particularly given the unsettled state of the global economy and financial markets. WeWork is not only chasing bold — and possibly quixotic — ambitions to transform the way the world lives and works. It also is looking to transform when and how young companies can go public.
"WeWork is pushing ahead with an IPO despite an unclear path to profitability that could endanger its valuation," said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jeffrey Langbaum. "We believe the company will be hard-pressed to reverse losses as long as it pursues significant revenue growth."
The losses, as laid out in the IPO prospectus, were stark: $2.9 billion in the past three years and $690 million in just the first six months of 2019. Still, the company said those losses resulted from continual investments in its growth. Its annual revenue more than doubled to $1.8 billion in 2018 compared with $886 million in the previous year.
"We have a history of losses," it said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "We cannot predict whether we will achieve profitability for the foreseeable future."