WeWork has announced it will withdraw its S-1 filing as it seeks to postpone its highly anticipated initial public offering.
The embattled office-sharing start-up formally announced its intent to go public on Aug. 14, revealing massive losses and a confusing corporate structure. Since then, the IPO for WeWork's parent company, The We Co., has been hanging in the balance, as it delayed its investor roadshow amid weak demand and a dwindling IPO valuation. WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann announced he would step down as CEO and give up some of his voting power on Sept. 24.
"We have decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business, the fundamentals of which remain strong," WeWork co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham said in a statement Monday. "We are as committed as ever to serving our members, enterprise customers, landlord partners, employees and shareholders. We have every intention to operate WeWork as a public company and look forward to revisiting the public equity markets in the future."
WeWork has faced sharp criticism from investors following the release of its S-1, with many voicing skepticism around the $47 billion valuation assigned to it in the private markets by SoftBank, its biggest backer. The company's IPO valuation has been slashed significantly, with public investors seeking to value the company as low as $10 billion.
Following Neumann's resignation, WeWork's new CEOs have taken steps to cut costs at the company, including selling Neumann's private jet, putting side businesses up for sale and considering layoffs of up to one-third of the company's workers, or roughly 5,000 employees. The steps are widely being viewed as an effort to get the company back on track for an IPO, though it remains unclear when a public offering would take place.
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