WeWork just reported its financials for 2018 and both its revenue - and losses - doubled
- WeWork doubled both its revenue and losses last year, according to an earnings presentation seen by Business Insider.
- The office operator saw significant growth in its international footprint, which contributed more than 40% of revenue - up from just 28% in the first quarter of 2017.
- WeWork had 425 locations and 401,000 members at the end of 2018, up from 200 locations and 186,000 memberships a year prior.
WeWork more than doubled its revenue, loss, and footprint last year, according to a financial presentation seen by Business Insider.
The New York-based company, which offers office space to individuals and corporations alike, notched $1.82 billion in revenue and $1.93 billion in net loss.
WeWork president and chief financial officer Artie Minson told Axios that the revenue and losses would both continue to grow, with losses stemming from construction and long-term rental contract costs.
"I was previously at [Time Warner Cable] and it took decades for cable companies to show profits, but that doesn't mean they weren't creating lots of value," Minson said.
International growth buoyed the company's bottom line, accounting for more than 40% of revenue by the second half of 2018, up from just 28% in the first quarter of 2017.
Overall, WeWork added 215,000 memberships last year, hitting 401,000 members. About a third of those memberships went to companies, an increasingly important business as WeWork seeks large, stable tenants like IBM looking for an office manager. The company also reported a $2.2 billion "revenue backlog" of contracts signed, largely driven by these enterprise-level agreements.
The company now has 425 locations, up from 200 in 2017.
WeWork ended the year with $2.2 billion in cash.
The company also included in its figures a non-standard metric it calls "community-adjusted EBITDA," which has raised some eyebrows. This figure is essentially intended to show that WeWork would be profitable, excluding the costs it requires to create those profits - such as 2018's $372 million in sales and marketing expenses. Last year, the company hit $467 million community-adjusted EBITDA, up from $233 million in 2017.
By the more-standard metric of adjusted EBITDA, the company lost $666 million last year, compared with $193 million in losses in 2017.
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