Wework (finally) did it's IPO

About two years ago, the office space start-up Wework failed spectacularly with the striking Adam Neumann at the top in an attempt to make a large IPO. Now the company has still found its way onto the floor.

About two years after its spectacularly failed IPO, the office broker Wework has still found a way to the public stock market. The battered US company went through the back door to NYSE on Thursday via a merger with the special purpose vehicle BowX Acquisition Corp. The stock rose by more than 5 percent in early trading.

Wework had actually wanted to make its stock market debut in 2019 with a big hype, but the plans of the start-up, which was highly equipped by the Japanese tech investor Softbank and valued at the time with an enormous 47 billion dollars, ended in a big debacle. Doubts about the loss-making business model, but above all the escapades and power of the controversial co-founder Adam Neumann, deterred investors.

The mammoth project ultimately had to be canceled, Neumann took his hat off and Softbank billions write off. Since then, Wework has become relatively quiet. The pandemic has further complicated the already only partially lucrative business model of brokering offices in long-term rented properties and caused deep red figures in 2020.

With the merger with BowX, which has now been completed, Wework was valued at nine billion dollars.

So let's see where this journey will go to.