WeWork Finally Gets Its Debut as a Public Company Trading on NYSE

This morning, WeWork finally got what it wanted for years: its very own stock ticker. 

Trading as WE on the New York Stock Exchange, the flex office company’s shares opened at $11.28, according to market data from S&P Capital IQ, and closed at $11.74.

WeWork had tried for a traditional IPO in September 2019 but halted the process after a firestorm of criticism ensued about the filing, outlining stunted cash-flow and a questionable corporate governance structure.

This completed IPO was through the purchase by BowX Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. In this method, the SPAC goes public and raises money from investors to then purchase an operating business. SPACs are often called “blank-check companies” because the investors typically have no idea what business their money will back.

Before the premier of WeWork, trading was under the BOWX ticker, which debuted on October 21, 2020, at $9.80. The 52-week high and low respectively were $13.93 and $8.85.

Today, as WE, shares hit an intraday high of $11.88 and low of $10.50. The closing number was an increase of about 4% over its opening but 13.1% over the previous day’s close of BOWX.

Normally, an IPO involves an SEC registration called an S-1, which includes significant financial details over a period of time. The SPAC process doesn’t require that and there is a lack of usual detail to determine how WeWork has been doing. 

The April 2021 announcement of the SPAC deal raised some eyebrows and questions about what non-GAAP measures and self-defined financial metrics actually meant and how investors might interpret them. June 2021 brought a document from the company for potential investors that again focused on metrics that were difficult to understand.

Many CRE experts expect that flexible office space offerings will be important aspects of the broader office space market. But what that ultimately means is hazy. In May, a study suggested that flex space demands were down 29% while average initial term lengths were off by a month.

And while many property owners might be hesitant about directly operating flex space options, there are many landlords looking for the right partner, with plenty of options.

WeWork has said that it is also creating other revenue opportunities, such as building a workplace management platform for landlords as well as virtual memberships. The company has also announced partnerships with Hudson’s Bay Company, Cushman & Wakefield, and Ivanhoé Cambridge.