3 ms·

Do they really have $18B in liabilities when they only generated $822M in revenue with $1.8B in expenses? Could someone explain the math of how this business ma

• microtherion 8y ago
  Presumably those $18B are calculated over the entire lifetime of their leases, not an actual $18B in back rent.
• tfehring 8y ago
  They don't have $18bn in liabilities. Total liabilities as of 12/31/17 are $2.4bn, including $1.7bn in unpaid rent [0]. They've committed to paying $18bn in rent on space they're currently leasing [1]. But that's not carried as a liability on their balance sheet, and barring a collapse in demand (which is a possibility that potential creditors should consider), they'll receive rent payments from clients to fund those payments as they come due. As an aside, this sort of confusion is why it's important to link to either a primary source or a good secondary source whenever possible, in my opinion. The Bloomberg article is clear on this issue, while the Business Insider article linked is just a watered-down, ambiguous summary of that article. [0] https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/04/24/1524606395000/More-on-WeWork-and-its-bond-offering/ https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/04/24/1524606395000/More-on... [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-24/the-18-billion-rent-bill-the-numbers-behind-wework-s-empire https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-24/the-18-bi...