Two Years After Its Failed IPO, WeWork Will (Finally) Go Public

Published on September 21, 2021 - By Cecilia Amador de San José

• WeWork is set to begin trading in late October, 2021, on the New York Stock Exchange. 
• The news comes 6 months after the announcement of its merger with special purpose acquisition company, BowX Acquisition Corp. 
• WeWork faced intense scrutiny after its initial filing in August, 2019, which led to then CEO, Adam Neumann, stepping down and the company postponing its IPO — until now. 

It’s official. Two years after its failed IPO attempt, WeWork will finally go public around October 21, 2021, according to a recent statement. 

Reports claim that WeWork will begin trading its shares sometime in late October on the New York Stock exchange. 

More like this: 

• WeWork Files for IPO amid Heavy Losses and Investor Skepticism 
• WeWork Postpones IPO after Lower Valuation Fails to Warm up Investors 
• Adam Is out. Where Does that Leave WeWork? 

The news comes about 6 months after WeWork announced its merger with special purpose acquisition company BowX Acquisition Corp. Once the merger is complete in October, shareholders will meet virtually to vote on the plan.  

If approved, the deal would close around October 21 and shares for the coworking company will then be listed under the ticker WE.  

The deal with BowX Acquisition Corp. has valued WeWork at $9 billion, less than a fifth of the $47 billion valuation it secured prior to filing for an IPO in 2019.  

BowX shares were trading at $10.00 (Tuesday Sept. 21), a slight drop from its $13.93 high in early April after it announced its merger with WeWork.  

WeWork first filed for an IPO in August, 2019. Once its S-1 was made public, the coworking company faced intense scrutiny from the media and investors. The company’s business model and the behavior of its then CEO, Adam Neumann, was put into question.  

After failing to garner interest from investors, WeWork slashed its valuation from $47 billion to $20 billion. When the plan failed, Neumann stepped down as CEO and WeWork postponed its IPO indefinitely.  

The BowX deal will provide WeWork with a $1.3 billion cash infusion, which the coworking company has said it will use to fuel its growth. 

WeWork will also get $800 million from private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, as well as funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, Centaurus Capital and Fidelity Management & Research Company, alongside funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Commercial Observer reported. Cushman & Wakefield also disclosed in August plans to invest up to $150 million in the merger.