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Rich Price for Four-Year-Old Office-Sharing Company With Big Ambitions
雄心勃勃的办公室共享服务提供商
CASSANDRA GIRALDO FOR THE WALLSTREET JOURNAL
【用户们在位于纽约的WeWork公司大堂。】
WeWork Companies Inc., a provider of shared office space, believes it can be as transformational to its industry as upstarts like Airbnb Inc. and UberTechnologies Inc. are in travel and transportation.
WeWork提供办公区域共享服务，这家公司相信他们会成为这个行业的改变者。就好像Airbnb跟Uber在旅游跟交通行业所做的那样。
The four-year-old company, which divvies up rented office space and sublets largely to startups, said on Monday it closed a $355 million funding round. The dealvalues the company at about $5 billion, said people close to the matter.
这间成立四年的公司主营业务是承租大面积的办公区域进行分割，然后分别转租给初创企业。本周一，WeWork刚刚结束新一轮3.55亿美元的融资。据知情者透露：该公司估价已接近50亿美元。
The valuation puts the small New York-based company in the sameleague as social book marking site operator Pinterest Inc. and media and Internet company IAC/Inter Active Corp .
该估值将这个位于纽约的小企业送进了由视觉社交网站Pinterest与媒体与互联网公司IAC/InterActiveCorp所组成的成功俱乐部
Adam Neumann, WeWork's 35-year-old co-founder, hopes to make the company a hot house for new business formation—by bringing together entrepreneurs who share space,office services and, potentially, ideas.
35岁的WeWork联合创始人亚当·诺依曼希望通过让一起工作的创业者们互相交流创意、分享办公区域与行政服务；逐步将WeWork发展成初创企业们的温室。
"We happen to need buildings just like Uber happens to need cars, just like Airbnb happens to need apartments," Mr. Neumann said in an interview.
在一次会谈中，诺依曼先生提到：“我们亟需写字楼就好像Uber亟需汽车，Airbnb亟需公寓一样。”
The latest financing was co-led by funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price AssociatesInc., clients of Wellington Management, and Goldman Sachs Group, according to WeWork. Investors from prior rounds including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Harvard Management Co.and Benchmark also participated, according to WeWork.
据WeWork透露：本轮投资由上市资产管理公司T. RowePrice领投，前投资者JP摩根大通、哈佛资产管理公司、标杆资本跟投。
"If Ishowed you their cash-flow statement, you would not compare it to a real-estatecompany," said Henry Ellenbogen, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price. "You'd compare it to a brand or tech company—maybe Chipotle or Uber."
T. RowePrice的基金经理，亨利·埃伦博根说道：“如果你看过他们（WeWork）的现金流量表，就不会认为他们是一间房地产企业。你应该用连锁企业或者高科技企业来做比较，比如Chipotle或者Uber”
Unlike its closest competitors, WeWork has a new-era sheen, its own mobile app, and deliberately chose to place properties in hot areas like Washington, D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood.
与其直接竞争对手相比，WeWork显得更为新潮。它不但拥有自己的移动应用（APP），还特意在城市的中心区域选择物业，例如华盛顿特区的Shaw旁边。
Viewedas a traditional real estate venture, WeWork's valuation wouldn't be nearly as rich, Mr. Neumann acknowledges.
诺依曼先生强调：如果被视为一家传统的房地产企业，WeWork很难达到这样的估值。
Still,WeWork's investors are "really not looking at the real estate," he said. Theysee it as a force for upending small-business office rentals with a new model providing sleek furnishings and plenty of collaboration.
“WeWork的投资人并不看重房地产业务”诺依曼先生补充道，“我们的投资人认为WeWork这种为微小企业提供现代化的办公家具和交流渠道的创新，颠覆了传统的办公楼租赁模式。”
Mr.Neumann said the company's app, which serves as an internal directory and allows WeWork customers to communicate idea and applicants, also providesinformation on events like regular happy hours—touchstones of the workcommunity it aims to foster.
诺依曼先生还介绍了公司的移动应用。 WeWork的APP类似一个内部企业列表，同时和用户交流他们的想法与申请。这个APP同样提供活动组织信息推送服务，比如用来培养团队关系的happyhours。
WeWork said its December revenue puts it on an about $150 million annual revenue run rate. It also said the month's annualized operating income puts its valuationat roughly 100 times income. It expects to grow significantly in years ahead, which would lower that ratio. Landlords typically trade between 18 times and 20 times earnings, according to Jed Reagan, an analyst at real estate consultants Green Street Advisors.
房地产咨询公司“GreenStreet Advisors”的分析师杰德·里根指出：由WeWork 的12月份收入可知年化稳定收益率（annual revenue run rate）约为1.5亿美元；同样由月均年化营业利润可以粗略的估算出WeWork的市值大约为其收入的100倍，随着WeWork未来可以预期的增长，这个比率将会降低[13]。与WeWork相比，传统地产行业的市盈率大约在18-20倍之间。
RegusPLC, the shared office space company that offers more traditional office spacethan WeWork, has a market capitalization of about $2.8 billion and 2013 operating profit of about $150 million. Regus went public in 2000, and its market value today is about half its dotcom-era peak at more than 360 pence a share.
同样提供办公区域共享服务的格雷斯集团公司是一家传统类型的办公楼租赁公司，这间公司目前市值28亿美元，2013年度业务利润大约1.5亿美元。格雷斯公司在2000年上市，目前市值仅为网络泡沫时期（dotcom-erapeak）的一半，大约每股360便士。
WeWork said it has leased about 1.6 million square feet in New York, making it the fastest expanding company by footprint in the city since 2010. In all, itexpects to have about 3.5 million square-feet globally by the end of 2015,total space larger than the Empire State Building. Also in the works is livingspace, akin to a high-end dorm for 20-something workers, people briefed on thecompany's plans said.
WeWork表示：纽约是他们增长最快的城市。自2010年以来，他们在纽约已经出租了160万平方英尺（约15万平方米）的办公面积。预计2015年底，WeWork的全球出租面积将超过帝国大厦的总面积，达到350万平方英尺（约33万平方米）。Wework的工作人员在介绍公司计划的时候提到：“对于20多岁的职场新人来说，工作空间同样是生活空间。WeWork向他们提供类似于高级公寓的办公环境”。
Dozens of firms offer space to those willing to pay a premium for a desk or of ficenestled among startups and some mature companies.
很多初创公司和一些成熟企业都不介意为了舒适的办公环境多付些钱。
Pricedepends on location. In the company's Financial District headquarters, it charges $400 a month for a desk and $1,400 a month for a small two-person office, well above the area's rate for such space.
当然价格取决于位置。在WeWork位于金融区的总部。一个工位每月需要支付400美元，而一间容纳两人的小办公室则需要花费1400美元/月。这个价格已经高于本地区的同等物业了。
News Corp , which owns The Wall StreetJournal, is a customer.
华尔街日报的拥有者，新闻集团也是WeWork的用户之一。
CASSANDRA GIRALDO FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
【WeWork联合创始人，35岁的亚当·诺依曼】
Israeli-born Mr. Neumann looks more like one of his startup tenants than a traditional landlord. He has shoulder-length wavy hair, shuns atie and keeps the top two buttons of his shirt undone.
与传统的房地产商人形象不同，以色列出生的诺依曼先生看起来更像是一个租用他物业的创业者。他留着齐肩的卷发，不系领带并解开了衬衫领口的两个扣子。
His office, in a WeWork hub in New York City's financial district, stocks an arrayof liquor, and he sometimes implores guests to do tequila shots, visitors to his office say.Unlike Airbnb and Uber, WeWork has a large fixed expense— rent paid to building owners— and the company may be as vulnerable in a downturn as any other co-working firm, said skeptics.
诺依曼先生那间存了不少好酒的办公室位于纽约金融区，他喜欢请来访的客人喝杯龙舌兰。质疑WeWork模式的人指出：不同于Airbnb与Uber，WeWork存在大量的固定资产开支，例如房租。当经济处于下行趋势的时候，WeWork会变得像其他的合作公司那样脆弱。
The business is a risky one in which its costs, fees paid to landlords, are fixed,but its revenues from startups and established businesses can fall quickly whenthe economy slows.
WeWork商业模式的弱点质疑就是成本。他们付给房东的房租是固定的，但是在经济放缓的情况下，从初创企业与微小企业获得的收入却会快速下滑。
"The small-to-medium-size businesses, they get particularly impacted in arecession," said Jon Halpern, who ran shared office space firm HQ Global Workplaces in the early 2000s.
曾在2000年早期运营一家办公区共享公司-“HQ GlobalWorkplaces”的乔恩·哈尔彭指出：“被经济下滑影响最剧烈的就是中小型企业。”
HQ grew rapidly in the run-up to the dot-com bust. But in the recession that followed, its value plummeted. It ultimately sold itself to Regus.
随着互联网泡沫的兴起，乔恩的HQ公司价值不断上升；然后随着经济下滑的到来一落千丈，最后不得不卖给了格雷斯集团公司。
CASSANDRA GIRALDO FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
【在纽约公司总部的WeWork会员聚会。】
As for his company's next steps, Mr. Neumann said he is focused on growing the business. He plans to expand WeWork from its current 23 locations to 60 in thenext year.
对于WeWork的下一步计划，诺依曼先生将会专注于发展。他计划在明年将WeWork的物业规模从23处扩张到60处。
Landlords who have discussed the matter with WeWork executives say they have said it is planning an initial public offering sometime in the next two or three years.
WeWork公司高管表示：未来两到三年内，WeWork计划IPO。
