Real estate companies don’t usually enter the general consciousness. But WeWork’s attempt to go public in September 2019 at a $47B valuation is one of the biggest failures in recent financial history — a miss so hubristic and spectacular, it spawned books, documentaries and soul searching about the Silicon Valley business model. It almost broke the company, to boot. Now, a little more than two years later, it’s back. Barring any last-minute and highly unlikely disasters, the shareholders of a special acquisition company called BowX will vote Tuesday to agree a deal to merge with WeWork and turn it into a listed company. On Thursday, shares in WeWork will start to trade on the New York Stock Exchange and WeWork will finally achieve its aim of becoming a listed company, with an initial valuation of $9.2B. It’s a big moment for WeWork and an even bigger moment for SoftBank, the Japanese tech firm that has ploughed $18.5B into the flexible office company and stands to finally get some of it back. For WeWork itself, the strategy won’t change, but the real estate sector will have a vital insight into how flexible offices, a fast-growing sector, are really performing. 
Beyond that, there is the question of how this once most grandiose of real estate companies will perform on the public market. WeWork has changed hugely since 2019, but coming out of a pandemic that was a perfect storm for flex office companies, how will it fare in the public spotlight? “It’s…  Read the full story here. | 
