Many companies sound the alarm on the negative repercussions of prices on their activities. Not WeWork.
WeWork CEO John Santora, the Semafor World Economy Summit said on Thursday, the economic uncertainty of the prices has actually attracted more cases for the space coworking company.
“So, if we look at it and simply take the environment of today with all the uncertainty around the prices and what is happening, which is ready to engage in a lease of 10 or 15 years with expenses of 50 or 100 million dollars?” Said Santora.
“The world, business, investments are all on break at the moment until you determine what impact it will have on your business, on your supply chain, on the cost of all this,” he added. “So we see companies that are in our spaces today, companies that have not been in our spaces before talking to us about” can you fill the short-term gap for us? What can you do for the next six months? “”
On Friday, Santora developed his comments in an interview with Bloomberg, saying that WeWork customers “watch a player like us to give them this flexibility.”
“You have to take a break,” he told Bloomberg on how his customers are thinking about the uncertain economic environment. “You must think about it. You must think about the investment or not of this major capital in a market, at least in the short term. You must step back.”
In addition to the prices and their consequences, the return to the office could also stimulate business for WeWork, said Santora.
“The other thing is, do we really know how many people will be in the office? We don’t do it,” he told Semaor. “We do not know if it will be three days a week, four days a week, five days a week. We can mandate it, or companies have it compulsory, but taking this short-term look, make two years with us, do three years with us. At that time, you know where your business is heading.”
It was a few tumultuous years for WeWork, who saw the exit from the founder and former CEO Adam Neumann in 2019. His departure followed an IPO failed by the concerns concerning the commercial, evaluation and governance of WeWork. WeWork finally became a public via a SPAC in 2021. The company then deposited a bankruptcy for chapter 11 in 2023.
WeWork refused to provide additional comments.
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