软银向WeWork再砸11亿美元，痴心不死还是实属无奈？
和其他房地产企业一样，WeWork的日子并不好过。试想一下，如果大批上班族都选择了远程办公，那办公室租赁的生意还能红火吗？今年4月，WeWork再度开“裁”，离职人员超过上千人。到了5月，该公司估值已经跌至29亿美元，甚至不及巅峰时期470亿美元的一个零头。
不过，在上周发布的第二季度财报中，WeWork公布的公司营收总额却实现了持续性的正向收益。同时，据彭博社8月14日报道，WeWork的首席财务官金伯利·罗斯曾经在一封内部信中向员工透露，软银在之后还会以担保债权的形式再向WeWork投资11亿美元。
“这笔资金代表着软银在日后依然会支持我们公司。”罗斯在信中写道。第二季度，WeWork的总营收为8.82亿美元，同比增长9%，较上一季度环比下降了20%。针对环比下降的原因，罗斯在信中认为是“疫情对公司业务产生了影响。”
在另一方面，WeWork的烧钱属性仍未消失，该公司公布的第二季度“自由现金流”（描述现金支出的一种委婉说法）就达到了6.71亿美元，比第一季度还高。
事实上，软银的这11亿美元融资本来应该是和它去年针对WeWork提出的“95亿美元救助计划”捆绑在一起的，但今年4月，软银却以“疫情期间经济情况恶化为由”，宣布撤回其中的一项“30亿美元股票回购计划”。对此，WeWork的股东对软银的决策委员会提起了诉讼，其余相应的融资计划也就被搁置了下来。
自WeWork初创之际，软银就在它身上不断砸钱，前前后后的投资已经超过100亿美元。对于软银来说，面对WeWork这样深不见底的销金库，现在选择直接投资可能要比回购它的30亿美元股票更划算一些。只是，对于那些急着套现离场的WeWork老股东而言，11亿美元根本算不上是什么安慰。（财富中文网）
编译：陈怡轩
和其他房地产企业一样，WeWork的日子并不好过。试想一下，如果大批上班族都选择了远程办公，那办公室租赁的生意还能红火吗？今年4月，WeWork再度开“裁”，离职人员超过上千人。到了5月，该公司估值已经跌至29亿美元，甚至不及巅峰时期470亿美元的一个零头。
不过，在上周发布的第二季度财报中，WeWork公布的公司营收总额却实现了持续性的正向收益。同时，据彭博社8月14日报道，WeWork的首席财务官金伯利·罗斯曾经在一封内部信中向员工透露，软银在之后还会以担保债权的形式再向WeWork投资11亿美元。
“这笔资金代表着软银在日后依然会支持我们公司。”罗斯在信中写道。第二季度，WeWork的总营收为8.82亿美元，同比增长9%，较上一季度环比下降了20%。针对环比下降的原因，罗斯在信中认为是“疫情对公司业务产生了影响。”
在另一方面，WeWork的烧钱属性仍未消失，该公司公布的第二季度“自由现金流”（描述现金支出的一种委婉说法）就达到了6.71亿美元，比第一季度还高。
事实上，软银的这11亿美元融资本来应该是和它去年针对WeWork提出的“95亿美元救助计划”捆绑在一起的，但今年4月，软银却以“疫情期间经济情况恶化为由”，宣布撤回其中的一项“30亿美元股票回购计划”。对此，WeWork的股东对软银的决策委员会提起了诉讼，其余相应的融资计划也就被搁置了下来。
自WeWork初创之际，软银就在它身上不断砸钱，前前后后的投资已经超过100亿美元。对于软银来说，面对WeWork这样深不见底的销金库，现在选择直接投资可能要比回购它的30亿美元股票更划算一些。只是，对于那些急着套现离场的WeWork老股东而言，11亿美元根本算不上是什么安慰。（财富中文网）
编译：陈怡轩
Like many businesses with a heavy real-estate presence, WeWork struggled as the pandemic pushed employees out of offices and into homes. It started another round of layoffs in late April, and investor SoftBank valued the company at $2.9 billion in May, a significant downtick from $47 billion a year ago.
But in its second quarter earnings report last week, WeWork surprisingly said revenue rose, adding that SoftBank committed another $1.1 billion, in the form of senior secured notes, to the business.
In a memo to staff, WeWork chief financial officer Kimberly Ross said revenue in the quarter rose 9% year-over-year to $882 million. While that figure is down roughly 20% ($1.1 billion) from the quarter earlier, “Covid-19 has had an impact on our business,” Ross wrote in the memo first viewed by Bloomberg.
The company is still burning quite a lot of cash. In the last quarter alone, WeWork posted “free cash outflows,” a rarely used euphemism for cash burn, of $671 million, a higher rate from the first quarter.
SoftBank’s fresh debt funding also comes after the telecom giant backed out of plans to buy $3 billion in WeWork shares from existing shareholders, including Adam Neumann. WeWork is now facing a lawsuit from the founder, as well as a committee made up of investor Benchmark and board member Lew Frankfort, over the issue. A $1.1 billion financing commitment was originally tied to that tender offer, but went up in the air after the deal was scrapped.
The thing is, SoftBank has already sunk over $10 billion into WeWork. So for SoftBank, a direct investment into the company makes more sense than spending $3 billion on equity that won’t directly feed into such a large investment’s coffers. Though, it's perhaps not much of a consolation for investors that were on the verge of cashing out.
