MENLO PARK, CALIF. AND NEW YORK CITY — BowX Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: BOWX), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) has completed its purchase of WeWork and will take the company public with an initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday, Oct. 21. Silicon Valley-based BowX originally announced its plan to acquire WeWork, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “WE” in March of this year in a deal that was then valued at $9 billion.
“With a strong leadership team in place and new platform offerings that will leverage WeWork’s decade of expertise and proprietary technology, we can’t imagine a business better equipped to lead continued growth in the flexible space market,” said Vivek Ranadive, the CEO and chairman of BowX Acquisition Corp. who also owns the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. “While the pandemic has created many uncertainties, flexibility is here to stay and WeWork has the space and technology to power this global shift.”
WeWork opened its first concept more than a decade ago in New York City, where the pioneering coworking office firm is also headquartered, and first announced its intent to go public in August 2019. Subsequent investigation into the company’s financials revealed that WeWork’s membership was declining as new competitors entered the coworking space. At that time, WeWork operated 528 locations across 29 countries, scrapped its IPO following a severe plunge from its initial valuation of $47 billion and removed founder Adam Neumann from his role as CEO.
Financial consulting and investment banking firm PJT Partners, which advised WeWork on the IPO, stated that the company had reported $658 million in revenue in the third quarter of this year, a 10 percent increase from the previous quarter. In addition, WeWork had an occupancy rate of 60 percent in the third quarter across its consolidated portfolio, up from 52 percent in the second quarter. WeWork’s global footprint spans more than 800 locations.