WeWork Joins a Long List of High-Profile SPACs That Have Failed

After a little more than two years as a public company, the infamous office-sharing firm WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 protection. WeWork joins the likes of Core Scientific Inc., one of the largest miners of Bitcoin, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc. to go bust and wipe out billions in market value.

Cordell Eminent Scholar Jay Ritter comments on WeWork, the highest profile SPAC blowup. The company’s $9 billion valuation in an October 2021 deal — one of the biggest mergers by enterprise value at the time — exemplified the profligacy of a near-zero interest rate environment.

Read Ritter’s insights in this story from Bloomberg [subscription required].