At the Hopewell Centre, WeWork is abandoning a 30,000-square-metre drive with 60,000 square metres of office space, just three months after allegedly agreeing to lease the space for HK 2.7 million a month. WeWork is ending all new leases with landowners as the company – which bleeds money – is trying to quickly rein in costs, according to those briefed on the deal. Including the Hopewell Center, Generali Tower and Octa Tower, WeWork had signed five leases in Hong Kong between March and August of this year for more than 425,000 square meters of office space. The raid comes just a week after WeWork announced the opening of four new offices in Hong Kong and follows a report last month in the Financial Times that 22 percent of the city`s 8,900 flexible offices are not rented. News of the hopewell Centre modification and general deferral in Hong Kong was first reported by Bloomberg. If co-working brands with leases were late, many of them would be lower than current price increases. The decision to terminate all new leases comes as WeWork`s parent company – we Company – plans to lay off thousands of its more than 12,000 employees in the coming weeks. The company is also reportedly in the midst of taking over leases from five other centres currently in preparation for the opening of the WeWork-Retro-Chic rejuvenation treatment. The message of WeWorks` office options search was reportedly forwarded to managers of other shared office providers in Hong Kong, who were contacted by agents offering opportunities to buy out leased centers by the troubled New York company. “Instead of a six-month rental trip, you could come in, park your credit card and start working almost immediately,” he said.
“It`s more difficult to do that in a traditional leasing structure, so the growth of the technology sector across North America, I think, is very closely related to the growth of the Flex Space phenomenon,” he said. In recent months, major investors had raised questions about the company`s continued financial losses and its overall business model for Neumann`s management. Also listed in the same category “opening soon” with the Hopewell Center is WeWork Octa Tower location, where the company has leased 50,000 square meters over two floors.