After Failing Miserably the First Time, WeWork Merges With NBA Owner's SPAC for Second Shot at Going PublicThe coworking startup gets a new lease on shareholder life thanks to BowX Acquisition Corp.
ByKenny Herzog•
Lest you thought SPACs were the sole domain ofadult-website hostsorGrand Slam-winning tennis stars, they are also the hot commodities tool of choice for NBA stars and franchise owners.
Wall Street Journalgot the scoop that BowX Acquisition Corp. —a SPAC launched last yearby Bow Capital founder and Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé that countsShaquille O'Nealamong its top advisors — has made its first big splash by merging with volatile房地产公司WeWork.
It's beenroughly a year and a halfsince WeWork's IPO flopped with investors. Founder Adam Neumann was jettisoned as CEO and SoftBank took control of the coworking company's assets. (Where does the time go?) But as TechCrunch has reported, WeWorkslowly stabilizedunder new management, setting the table for Ranadivé's wager on its future returns.
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Per theJournal, BowX "values WeWork at $9 billion including debt," and "as part of the deal, WeWork would raise $1.3 billion, including $800 million in what is called a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, from Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, Fidelity Management and others."
Just as a refresher, SPAC stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company, and is effectively a blank-check firm created with an eye on specialized acquisitions for mutually lucrative public offerings. Which, while not quite as sexy as anNFT, could prove to be just as speculatively — and spectacularly — lucrative.
