WASHINGTON (Axios): WeWork said Friday that it has agreed to be taken public by a SPAC sponsored by Vivek Ranadivé’s Bow Capital Management.
Why it matters: This is a sunny ending to a very dark year for WeWork, which was already under pressure before the pandemic crushed co-working.
By the numbers: The deal would give WeWork an implied valuation of around $9 billion.
That’s a dramatic discount to its $47 billion valuation in early 2019, but a slight improvement on where WeWork was valued in a SoftBank-led bailout round later that same year.
In between was WeWork’s abandoned IPO process, and the ouster of founding CEO, Adam Neumann.
Timing: Word of a SPAC deal for WeWork first surfaced weeks ago, and was expected to be announced sometime after SoftBank and Neumann reached a legal settlement related to a failed stock tender offer.
Deal details: The PIPE is an $800 million outlay from firms like Insight Partners, Starwood Capital Group, Centaurus Capital and Fidelity.
One source says that’s an increase from the initial $500 million ask.
Other sources say the PIPE process moved a bit slower than expected, as part of a broader tightening of the PIPE market.
Once the deal is completed, WeWork will trade on the Nasdaq.
