WeWork IPO To Be Delayed Until October “At Earliest” As Roadshow Halted

While it will hardly come as a surprise to anyone, especially after even its notorious sponsor SoftBank urged it to fade from the public’s attention for a period of time, moments ago the WSJ reported that even as its bankers were adamant that things are proceeding according to plan, WeWork will postpone its initial public offering after investors questioned how much the company is worth (somewhere around $10 billion or lower, down from $47 billion just a few weeks ago) and had questions about its corporate governance.

What is more surprising is that according to various press reports, WeWork’s IPO roadshow was supposed to begin as soon as today ahead of a trading debut next week. It now appears that is not happening and the most likely explanation is that after some preliminary canvassing of investor interest, there was none.

What this means is that as of today, WeWork is “likely to shelve the offering until at least next month, according to people familiar with the matter.” Reading between the lines, it means that the IPO is effectively over – after all what will change in the next 2 weeks? Actually there is one thing that may salvage this IPO: Adam Neumann, the company’s CEO, who is suddenly at least 3.6 roentgens radioactive, may depart. 

Then again, the window for money burning IPOs may be over: as we noted yesterday, after the WeWork debacle, and the Uber and Lyft IPO fiascoes, it is quite possible that the patience of investors who granted a post-IPO valuation of just under $200 billion…

… on companies that will burn through $12.5 billion next year…

… has finally run out.