WeWork says it has 527,000 'memberships' but that's not as straightforward as it seems

• WeWork bills itself as being more affordable than traditional leases where the tenant is on the hook for everything from their own construction costs to coffee, according to the prospectus it filed for its now-postponed IPO.
• But the way WeWork counts customers, which it calls "members" and "memberships," isn't as straightforward as it seems, multiple sources have told Business Insider.
• WeWork's S-1 filing says it has 527,000 "memberships," but based on the way WeWork calculates memberships, an undisclosed portion of those paid "memberships" are empty, unused desks.

WeWork bills itself as being more affordable than traditional leases where the tenant is on the hook for everything from their own construction costs to their own coffee, according to the S-1 prospective documents it released as part of its now-shelved IPO.

A special "membership" metric

Ghost desks

The true per-employee cost for WeWork tenants can vary

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