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"WeWork

The move was widely expected after turnover in the company. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Topline: After weeks of turmoil—and less than a week after the departure of embattled cofounder Adam Neumann—WeWork has filed to officially withdraw its planned initial public offering.&nbsp;

  • In a widely expected move, WeWork cancelled its IPO on Monday, submitting a request with the Securities and Exchange Commission to officially withdraw its S-1 registration, initially filed in August. Many investors had grown increasingly concerned over the company’s precarious financial position and irregular corporate governance—which culminated in the departure of embattled CEO Adam Neumann.
  • Co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham, who were chosen to replace Neumann, said in a statement: “We have decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business, the fundamentals of which remain strong.”
  • Since taking the helm, Minson and Gunningham have moved quickly to cut costs and raise cash in an attempt to save WeWork’s business and restore investor confidence.
  • WeWork’s new management team has already begun divesting assets and selling off parts of the company’s business.
  • WeWork’s biggest shareholder, Softbank, invested in the real estate and workspace firm at a $47 billion valuation in January. But investor skepticism led the company to consider a potential IPO with a valuation as low as $10 billion, and it now looks to have scrapped the idea altogether—although not necessarily in the long run.

Crucial quote: “We have every intention to operate WeWork as a public company and look forward to revisiting the public equity markets in the future,” management said. While WeWork’s parent, the We Company, had vowed to pursue an IPO by the end of the year, sources told Reuters last week that any public offering was unlikely to be completed in 2019.

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Topline: After weeks of turmoil—and less than a week after the departure of embattled cofounder Adam Neumann—WeWork has filed to officially withdraw its planned initial public offering. 

  • In a widely expected move, WeWork cancelled its IPO on Monday, submitting a request with the Securities and Exchange Commission to officially withdraw its S-1 registration, initially filed in August. Many investors had grown increasingly concerned over the company’s precarious financial position and irregular corporate governance—which culminated in the departure of embattled CEO Adam Neumann.
  • Co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham, who were chosen to replace Neumann, said in a statement: “We have decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business, the fundamentals of which remain strong.”
  • Since taking the helm, Minson and Gunningham have moved quickly to cut costs and raise cash in an attempt to save WeWork’s business and restore investor confidence.
  • WeWork’s new management team has already begun divesting assets and selling off parts of the company’s business.
  • WeWork’s biggest shareholder, Softbank, invested in the real estate and workspace firm at a $47 billion valuation in January. But investor skepticism led the company to consider a potential IPO with a valuation as low as $10 billion, and it now looks to have scrapped the idea altogether—although not necessarily in the long run.

Crucial quote: “We have every intention to operate WeWork as a public company and look forward to revisiting the public equity markets in the future,” management said. While WeWork’s parent, the We Company, had vowed to pursue an IPO by the end of the year, sources told Reuters last week that any public offering was unlikely to be completed in 2019.