WeWork Shares Rise 13.5% After Public Debut

WeWork went public on Thursday, with shares closing at $11.78 USD, a 13.5% increase. The shared workspace company now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “WE.”

WeWork announced in March that it planned to finally go public after agreeing to a merger with special purpose acquisition company BowX, a deal that reportedly valued the company at about $8 billion USD. The combined company will now operate as WeWork Inc.

WeWork was founded in 2010 and opened its first location in New York City. It now boasts 747 open and soon-to-be-opened locations across over 150 cities.

The company has successfully rebounded after failing to go public in 2019 after concerns surrounding WeWork’s leadership and business model were raised. The highly-publicized fiasco resulted in former chief executive Adam Neumann leaving the company and giving up most of his stock for a nearly $1.7 billion USD payout.

The company saw major growth in Q3 of 2021, with a preliminary total revenue of $658 million USD, an increase of approximately 10% compared to the second quarter.

“As the way we live and work has fundamentally changed, WeWork is leading one of the biggest disruptions in commercial real estate with a workspace solution that has never been more in demand,” said executive chairman of WeWork Marcelo Claure.

In other news, Bitcoin reached an all-time high after the launch of its first U.S.-exchange traded fund.