WeWork has named a new CFO, Andre Fernandez, who brings with him decades of working expertise in publicly traded companies to the co-working giant, which went public this past October.
He will report directly to WeWork’s Chairman and CEO Sandeep Mathrani, and oversee the company’s accounting, internal audit, financial planning & analysis, reporting, treasury, tax and investor relations functions.
Fernadez officially joins WeWork on June 10 and takes over from Benjamin Dunham, who has been with the company since 2018 and became CFO in October 2020 after its first attempt to go public failed.
The flexible workspace company was forced to shelve its plans to IPO in 2019 after its investors, media and general public balked at its finances, business model and corporate governance. The implosion of the highly anticipated IPO eventually led to the resignation of co-founder and former CEO Adam Neumann.
In the aftermath of the failed bid to go public, Dunham stepped in to help WeWork slash its burn rate and get its finances in order. Dunham’s measures were successful and the company went public via a SPAC merger in October 2021 with a much more positive reception from Wall Street.
Fernandez brings a different skill set and will be tasked with running the global financial operations of the now-public coworking venture. To do so he will lean on his more than 30 years of experience in finance roles at global companies, including NCR Corporation, where he most recently served as CFO. Fernandez also held top leadership roles at CBS Radio, Journal Communications and GE.
In the company’s announcement, Mathrani called Fernandez a “seasoned public company CFO” and said, “With his demonstrated ability to balance operational excellence with financial discipline, Andre will provide instrumental leadership and direction as WeWork transitions from transformation to growth and innovation.”
Earlier this month, WeWork revealed that it brought in $765 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2022, beating its own guidance and estimates. The 28% year-over-year revenue jump and growing demand for its flexible office spaces emboldened the company to raise its outlook for the second quarter of 2022 from $775-to-825 million to $800-to-825 million.
While Fernandez inherits a growing balance sheet, he will have to guide the company through a worsening economic climate and growing talks of a recession that is pushing a slew of companies to conduct layoffs and freeze hiring.
It remains unknown how a potential recession will impact WeWork but two potential scenarios could occur. In the first scenario, WeWork could capitalize on downsizing startups and companies looking to shed their traditional office leases to fill their flexible offices, leading to a boom in revenue. In another scenario, a recession could push companies to forgo offices altogether in favor of remote work.
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