(Reuters) – Flexible workspace provider WeWork Inc reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss on Friday, helped by cost cuts and demand for office space from companies switching to a hybrid model of work.
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed companies to offer employees to work from places other than their offices, benefiting workspace providers such as WeWork, which offers workstations, private offices and customized floors.
Softbank-backed WeWork’s business has also recovered due to easing of COVID-19 curbs, after work-from-home arrangements last year weighed heavily on the company amid reduced occupancy and higher operating costs.
The switch to a hybrid work model had also lifted WeWork’s London-listed rival IWG, which reported a smaller loss on Tuesday.
WeWork, which went public in October last year after a near two-year struggle, was aided further by chief executive Sandeep Mathrani’s push to cut costs by exiting unprofitable leases and selling non-core assets.
Mathrani, who took over as the top boss in early 2020, has said the company is working towards being profitable this year.
Long-term lease obligations, a closely-watched metric given the company generally leases real estate, fell about 11% to $17.93 billion as of Dec. 31.
New desk sales for the fourth quarter, on the other hand, rose to 87,000 from 84,000 in the third quarter.
Net loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell to $803 million from $1.17 billion a year earlier.
(Reporting by Kannaki Deka and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru: Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)