In 2019, WeWork tumbled from IPO talks to near bankruptcy in six weeks.
A year and a half later, the real estate company is again set to go public, this time by merging with a Shaquille O’Neal-advised SPAC. For WeWork and its backers, the public listing is a tale of redemption. For critics, it’s the latest evidence of an overheated SPAC market.
But as Business Inisdwer reports, a more fundamental question, perhaps not yet fully appreciated, is what the SPAC boom means for Silicon Valley’s vaunted startup ecosystem, where failure is considered a vital component. By offering an alternative route to raise capital from the public markets, SPACs provide a lifeline for promising innovations to grow into a business, but they might also serve as a form of artificial life support for troubled or problematic startups. Read more.
