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WeWork follows the SPAC route to go public in a $ 9 billion deal
WeWork, the once-up-and-coming office-share start-up that fell out of favor during a revealing IPO process in 2019, will finally make its debut in the stock market, but not through the traditional IPO route. check out BowX Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a merger that has been in fashion on Wall Street lately. SPAC is a front company that uses the resources of a public listing to buy a private company like WeWork. When the two merge, the private company then takes over the trading of SPAC shares. Accessing the stock market through a SPAC requires less regulatory oversight and investor scrutiny than a traditional IPO. In the deal announced on Friday, WeWork is valued at $ 9 billion. This is a big drop from the $ 47 billion valuation during his unsuccessful IPO in 2019. The original stock market listing was dropped amid widespread concerns about WeWork’s business model and the management style of its founder Adam Neumann. WeWork eventually had to be rescued by the majority shareholder SoftBank. WeWork’s market debut will take place at a time of uncertainty about the future of office work, as economies open up, people are vaccinated and employers find out how many workers need – or want – to return to the office after working from home during the health crisis. WeWork told potential partners in the merger that it lost about $ 3.2 billion last year, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters earlier this week.