IWG founder sees £70m wiped off his personal fortune as office space provider is forced to close locations
IWG founder Mark Dixon has seen the value of his stake in the office space provider fall £69.1m
Almost £70million was wiped off IWG founder Mark Dixon’s fortune after the business warned about the impact of coronavirus.
The office space provider cancelled its final dividend and called off a share buyback scheme, saying it needed to slash costs due to the outbreak.
The pandemic forced IWG to close offices in China, although those have reopened, and the company expects to take similar measures in other countries that order lockdowns.
Its announcement sent shares tumbling by 17.3 per cent, or 27.75p to 132.25p, wiping £69.1million off the value of Dixon’s stake. He set up IWG as Regus in 1989.
He had the idea while sitting in a Brussels cafe and noticing the lack of office space available to travelling business people.
The company runs about 3,000 offices around the world and the father-off i ve st i l l ow n s 28.58 per cent, or 249m shares, worth £329.3million.
Dixon, 60, has also been increasing his stake recently, buying 4.1m shares last week for £6.1million.
However, his losses this year have been substantial, with the stock down by nearly 70 per cent so far in 2020.
That has seen a staggering £756million wiped off the value of his shares.
The company had been due to pay a final dividend of 4.8p per share for 2019 but said this had been cancelled.
IWG has also made £27.5million worth of purchases in a planned £100 share buyback programme, but the firm said this was being suspended until further notice.