WeWork pushed back its much-awaited initial public offering, and said it now expects to complete the listing by the end of this year as concerns mount over the company’s governance, valuation and business prospects.
As WeWork continues its stumble to the public markets, some prognosticators see this moment as something more significant: that a WeWork belly-flop portends the end of the unicorn era in Silicon Valley.
What to make of WeWork, the fashionable, unprofitable, metaphysically inscrutable US$47-billion office-rental company that intends to “elevate the world’s consciousness” and potentially go public this year?
WeWork fails on nearly all the criteria which determine whether a tech start-up is likely to be successful in the long term.
WeWork may be the most magical creature in the last decade of richly valued “unicorn” start-ups that are attempting to bust up established industries. By Shira Ovide.