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WeWork finally goes public

On Thursday, shares of WeWork jumped in early trading after the office-leasing company went public via SPAC, more than two years after its highly anticipated IPO.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: This is Yahoo Finance Live. We are less than a minute to the opening bell on this Thursday. We have had, as I mentioned, the top six straight days of gains for the S&P 500. And they got within a point of closing at a record yesterday.

Even this morning, we were seeing, when we started the show just about half hour ago, futures were indicating a bigger drop. And they've cut that drop just about in half. So we'll see what happens over the course of the day, as investors consider earnings, as well as a jobless claims report that came in a bit better than had been estimated. Who's ringing the bell this morning? It's WeWork.

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Indeed, WeWork, and our opening bell coverage is brought to you by PIMCO. The gentlemen on that podium do not include Adam Neumann, of course, the former CEO. Sandeep Mathrani on the right there is the new CEO. Marcelo Claure is also there of SoftBank. He is the chairman now of WeWork.

Guys, going into the IPO the first time around, this company was valued at $47 billion. The deal this time? About $8 billion, which just shows, I mean, the incredible arc of this company, which was the best thing since sliced bread at one point. And now, it's a real estate company. It's OK. Sozz, it's been such an interesting trajectory.

BRIAN SOZZI: There's only one-- yeah, the trajectory has only been down, Julie. And I'll never forget visiting WeWork's headquarters really at the height of its valuation. You know, that's insanity around the company that was going to change the world. Just walking in there and they have foosball tables. They had a really giant cafeteria. They offered me coffee from any one of their-- I think-- believe-- I counted. I have a photo of this somewhere-- seven on just taps or tapped-based coffee. It was just absolutely ridiculous here.

But fun note, we were talking a little about this in the morning meeting here. The FD reporting that WeWork founder, Adam Neumann, is holding a party for himself, his co-founder, and the first 100 employees at a swank hotel in New York City nearby. What a bad look. I mean, that's just terrible, really terrible.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, I think they have kombucha on tap there, too, although that would be--

BRIAN SOZZI: Totally clueless. Adam Neumann, clueless.

BRIAN CHEUNG: --in the Adam Neumann days. I don't know what that's like anymore. But I mean, oh, well, they only raised $8 billion this time. Like, boo hoo. I mean, I think they're going to be fine, and I think that the business model itself still stands.

And I think what's actually kind of interesting about the timing of all of this is, yes, even though WeWork maybe was a little bit more ambitious and hopeful in getting this IPO, or rather, in getting to the public markets years ago, I think the timing of it now might not be the worst when you consider that commercial real estate could be easy and up for grabs right now when you consider that, you know, it's not a default wave, if you will.

But right now, there are a lot of buildings that are currently struggling. I mean, one example would be the Princeton Club of New York, I think, on 43rd Street. The news from Bloomberg, actually, that they defaulted on their mortgage and that that property is up for grabs now.

So I mean, this could be a time for WeWork to actually take up market share and acquire a few more locations to expand as some companies, I would say maybe those that, let's call it, aren't subject to the federal vaccine mandate, those under 500 employees maybe will be perfect to have temporary offices in WeWork on a need to basis. So maybe this is a good time for them.

BRIAN SOZZI: Brian, maybe WeWork can redesign the Fed offices. You know, they really need a makeover.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, yeah, let's get the New York Fed relocated to a WeWork. Yeah, I'm sure they love kombucha over there at the New York Fed.

JULIE HYMAN: And by the way, Mathrani is an experienced real estate operator. I believe he was formerly at Brookfield Properties. I'll leave the jokes to you guys. Just to let people know that--