WeWork revives plans to go public, this time with a SPAC deal

Office-sharing firm WeWork, valued as high as $47bn two years ago, will try again to go public, this time through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger that values the firm at $9bn.

WeWork agreed to sell itself to a blank-check company in a deal to take the troubled office-sharing startup public almost two years after a high-profile failed listing. The agreement will merge WeWork with BowX Acquisition Corp., valuing it at $9 billion including debt. It will also raise $1.3 billion for WeWork, including $800 million from a private placement with investors including Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, and Fidelity Management. New York-based WeWork, co-founded by Adam Neumann and heavily backed by SoftBank Group Corp., was valued at as much as $47 billion two years ago. But plans for an initial public offering imploded in 2019 after investors raised concerns over the company’s business model and Neumann’s management style. WeWork’s valuation plunged to about $8 billion after SoftBank extended a financing lifeline to the startup. The flamboyant Neumann, known as much for his erratic behavior as for his innovative vision, was subsequently pushed aside.