Shares in WeWork jumped on Thursday as the company made its long-awaited public market debut at the New York Stock Exchange, while across town company co-founder Adam Neumann partied with early employees and celebrated a $1bn windfall from the listing.
The shared office space group’s stock was up more than 10 per cent in early trading as investors piled in, anticipating that the consistently money-losing enterprise will benefit after the pandemic by a shift to more flexible working patterns. About two hours after the market opened, the stock was trading 10.3 per cent higher at $11.45.
The listing drew a line under WeWork’s lengthy, chequered journey to have its shares publicly traded. It gave early employees and private market investors their first chance to sell stock in the company, which opened its first office in 2010.