WeWork is in a world of its own

WeWork, the flexible office provider, knows what people want, but is expanding too quickly.

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WeWork: trendy, but is it profitable?
(Image credit: Katelyn Perry 2016)

WeWork, which rents premises and then sub-lets them as trendyco-working office spaces, was recently valued at $47bn after Japanese investor SoftBank said it would invest a further $2bn in the group. While $2bn might sound like quite a vote of confidence, this was way down from an original $16bn. Moreover, the money is no longer coming from SoftBank's $100bn Vision tech fund, whose investors had apparently "balked" at the commitment, reports the Financial Times. Little wonder WeWork's offices might be pretty, but it needs to show that it can make the profit needed to justify its stratospheric valuation.

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Sarah is MoneyWeek's investment editor. She graduated from the University of Southampton with a BA in English and History, before going on to complete a graduate diploma in law at the College of Law in Guildford. She joined MoneyWeek in 2014 and writes on funds, personal finance, pensions and property.