A WeWork location in New York City. The company plans to go public next month with a highly anticipated IPO. | AFP/Getty Images

Critique of the IPO shouldn?t overlook rapid growth within the sector Read any of the many critical takes on WeWork?s imminent IPO, and the company?s recently released financial statements, and it?ll quickly become clear?the numbers paint a damning picture.
The coworking giant has $47 billion in long-term financial obligations while bringing in only $3 billion in revenue this year. The 10 pages of disclosures on cofounder Adam Neumann?s business dealings include the news of him leasing his own buildings to the company as well as his recently sale of $700 million in stock. Recode?s Kara Swisher says the overstuffed, over-the-top document was a ?good lesson in how not to go public in the age of the techlash.? But perhaps the numbers that should be more central to the story are those underscoring the rapid and continued expansion of the overall coworking industry. Last year, flexible space operators accounted for 13.4 million square feet, or 7.6 percent of total office footage leased in the United States in 2018, according to data from commercial real estate firm CBRE. And as of last month, that number has already jumped to 8.6 percent of total office space.
Despite WeWork?s size and media profile?it controls 71 percent of the total working inventory in the U.S., per CBRE?coworking shouldn?t be conflated with that firm alone. The evolution o...