WEWORK’S DÉJÀ DEBUT
Ex-CEO hosts boozy stox launch
Ousted WeWork founder Adam Neumann hosted a booze-soaked party for more than 100 of his earliest employees as shares of the company finally began trading on the New York Stock Exchange and soared as much as 13 percent.
“I’m feeling amazing,” Neumann told The Post amid the crowd at the beer garden of the posh Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District.
Guests pounded champagne as early as 9 a.m. — though Neumann stuck to water and iced coffee — as they awaited the opening bell and first trade of WeWork stock. Mimosas and Bloody Marys were served later.
Staff handed out WeWork-branded shirts, even though a source close to the current iteration of WeWork confirmed the party was not funded by or affiliated with the company.
WeWork shares on Thursday, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “WE,” closed up more than 13 percent, at $11.78, giving the company a market capitalization of more than $9 billion.
That’s sorely short of the $47 billion valuation WeWork was eyeing before it imploded in 2019 — but Thursday’s stock pop still netted Neumann about $250 million in profits, according to securities filings.
Neumann is banned from selling his shares until July of next year, the Financial Times reported.
Both Neumann, dressed in a black T-shirt with the words “Student For Life,” and co-founder Miguel McKelvey addressed the crowd.
“It’s such a special day,” Neumann told guests. “A brand without a past does not have a future,” he said, hugging McKelvey multiple times throughout the speech. The pair hadn’t been spotted together since Neumann was forced to resign as WeWork’s CEO in 2019.
One attendee at the event told The Post that some felt like it was a “high school reunion” while others felt it was more like “going to your ex-girlfriend’s wedding.”
WeWork finally made its debut on the public markets Thursday through a merger with BowX Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company, about two years after it first tried to go public at a much higher valuation.
In August 2019, the company filed the prospectus for its flopped bid for a traditional IPO, which for the first time disclosed WeWork’s financials showing mounting losses. Its valuation quickly collapsed, scuttling its plans to go public.
The company — and Neumann and his financial backers — were widely ridiculed for packing its prospectus with lofty buzzwords that were tangentially related to its business and allowing Neumann to enrich himself through legally questionable business operations.
By September, Neumann — under pressure from key investor SoftBank — resigned as CEO and got a massive exit package worth almost $2 billion.
But now, in a world fundamentally altered by the pandemic, WeWork — under new management — has found a new lease on life.
A spokesperson for WeWork declined to comment on the party.