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Bloomberg
Jefferies Financial Group Inc’s earnings took a hit from an unlikely source: WeWork’s dropping valuation.
Third-quarter revenue came in below even the lowest analyst expectationas the company’s merchant banking unit wrote down the value of its investment in We Co by $146 million. Net revenue fell slightly to $777 million despite increases in both fixed-income and equities trading, Jefferies said in a statement.
We, which was valued at $47 billion earlier this year, halted its initial public offering process as tepid demand meant it may have gone public at a valuation below $15 billion. It’s now likely to wait until 2020 to go public, Bloomberg reported.
Jefferies currently owns 0.8 percent of We’s diluted shares, and said it has already received $31 million in cash from its $9 million investment. Jefferies said the updated valuation was as of August 31. It had said that its WeWork stake was worth $269 million as of May 31.
Equities trading revenue jumped 13 percent from a year earlier to $193 million, while fixed-income trading climbed 6 percent to $148 million. Investment banking fees fell 11 percent to
$403 million.