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OFFICE CO-WORKING COMPANY WeWork has said it remains “fully committed to the Irish market” despite plans to close some offices around the world.
Speaking to The Journal, a WeWork spokesperson described Ireland as a “key market”.
The BBC has reported that WeWork is due to begin closing some of its buildings, with a building in central London due to close.
The WeWork spokesperson said the company “is fully committed to the Irish market and its members and it is fully committed to find solutions that work are all parties involved”.
As of the end of June, WeWork had over 700 locations in 39 countries.
The commitment to Ireland comes amid reports that WeWork could file for bankruptcy as early as next week.
In August, the company said there was “substantial doubt” over its ability to stay in business over liquidity and profitability issues, but hinted that the firm could stay afloat if the issues were resolved within the next 12 months.
However, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal, WeWork has been struggling with debt and losses and has considered filing a ‘Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition’ – to allow the company to restructure its debts.
On 6 September, its CEO David Tolley published an open letter in which he acknowledged “challenges” following a “period of unsustainable hypergrowth”.
Tolley said that WeWork’s current lease liabilities “are dramatically out of step with current market conditions” and that “immediate action” would be taken to “permanently fix our inflexible and high-cost lease portfolio”.
This immediate action included negotiating “nearly all” of WeWork’s leases and Tolley added: “We expect to exit unfit and underperforming locations and to reinvest in our strongest assets as we continuously improve our product.”
However, he said WeWork “intend to stay in the majority of our buildings and markets”.
WeWork leases buildings and divides them into office spaces to sublet to its members.
It has four sites in Dublin, located in Charlemont Exchange, Harcourt Road, Dublin Landings in the docklands and the former Central Bank building, which it plans to open next year.
TikTok currently occupy the company’s Harcourt Road offices in Dublin City while they await their move into two new spaces in the city.
WeWork went public in 2021, after a failed attempt to do so by its former CEO and founder Adam Neumann.
Since, however, operating costs have soared for the company as it relied on a number of funding injections from private investors.
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They love Ireland these big companies. Must be the fantastic cost of living and the weather…..not forgetting the acquiescent political establishment.
@Tommy Haze: Don’t SF will quickly get rid of these companies. Sure who needs jobs and tax money coming in?
@Kilkenny Proud: Don’t worry
@Kilkenny Proud:
Sinn Fein will do exactly as they’re told just like the others.
People buying into this ‘Frankfurt’s Way or Labour’s Way’ type populism are in for a serious reality check if SF make it into power.
@Tommy Haze: I don’t know if they’ll have to do as they’re told, but when they see the huge taxes that are generated off of the back of having the MNCs here they may not wish to rock the boat much. Oh, and before people say they don’t pay a high % of tax, that maybe true of corporation tax, but they also pay all the employees and their taxes, and those employees buy stuff and lunches and spend, which in turn supports more employees and their tax paying.
What I would like to see is more Irish start ups, that is an area the govt (whoever they be) could look at fostering a little more. It’s an alternative to the MNC model without disturbing the existing.
@Tommy Haze: You mean the pro business political establishment? And our open economy, our low corp tax rate and highly educated workforce, our EU membership and English language. It’s a good thing that the multi-nationals are here, otherwise we’d be fecked. Of course, all the above conditions are also responsible for bringing REITs to Ireland – that hasn’t worked out so well.
Work from home and reduced office sizes due to hybrid working has really hit their plans.
have your say