WeWork, a company that rents shared office space, has cut at least 7% of its staff and has implemented a hiring freeze.
The cuts, first reported by Bloomberg, represent around 70 employees at the New York-based startup, which has a staff of around 1,000.
Founded in 2010, the New York-based startup leases desks to businesses and individuals at 91 locations in seven countries as a cheaper alternative to formal offices. The company is also expanding to shared residential spaces.
A spokesperson for WeWork said that the employees were let go not because of cost cutting, but based on a recent talent assessment. “In fairness to the people potentially coming in as new, we paused hiring for a couple of weeks while we transitioned employees. We expect to lift the pause as soon as next week.”
The company said that it hired 175 people in May and plans to hire around 500 people more by the end of the year. WeWork is also continuing with its expansion plans in Atlanta, Denver, and Philadelphia over the summer, and is on track to open a location in Shanghai next month.
WeWork has raised over $1 billion in funding from firms like Benchmark Capital, Harvard Management, Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wellington Management and Goldman Sachs. A few months ago, the company raised $430 million in a funding round that reportedly valued it at $16 billion.
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A growing number of technology startups are cutting costs amid a tougher fundraising environment. Jawbone and SurveyMonkey have both let go staff in the past year.