WeWork 's co-founders threw a party for the company's first employees to celebrate its public listing, the Financial Times reported.- Neumann, who resigned as CEO in 2019, has a roughly 10% stake in the company.
In a hotel in
Founder and former WeWork CEO
WeWork was "writing another chapter in what will become one of the most amazing comeback stories ever," Marcelo Claure, chair of WeWork and international chief executive of
All the employees invited to the party are shareholders at WeWork and can begin trading immediately, the Financial Times reported. Though Neumann about 10% of the shares, he will have to wait nine months to begin selling, a person familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. The party also marks the first time Neumann and McKelvey have seen each other in person in some time, the Financial Times continued, but they have stayed in touch over the past two years.
The flexible-workspace company went public through a merger with BowX Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, with the SPAC combination operating under the WeWork name and trading under the ticker symbol "WE". Its shares were up about 8% on its first day of trading.
The company originally filed for an
Neumann also faced criticism for his erratic management of the the company and hard-partying ways, including alleged drug and alcohol use, detailed in a Wall Street Journal report from 2019.
WeWork's board of directors met in September 2019 to plan the removal of Neumann as CEO, gaining the support of one of the company's biggest investors, multinational conglomerate Softbank's Masayoshi Son. After Neumann officially stepped down as CEO in September 2019, SoftBank took over the company.
The company's blank check deal with BowX, valued at about $9 billion, was fraction of its $47 billion valuation in 2019. The BowX deal will provide the WeCompany $1.3 billion one it goes public.
Insider reached out to WeWork about the party, but it has not yet responded to inquired about the event.