WeWork has agreed to go public through a merger with blankcheck firm BowX Acquisition Corp that values the officesharing startup at 9 billion including debt, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company disclosed to prospective investors it had lost about 3.2 billion last year as part of a pitch for a stock market listing by merging with a special purpose acquisition company SPAC, sources told Reuters earlier this week.

The officesharing startups plans for its highprofile initial public offering imploded in October 2019 due to investor concerns over the officesharing startups business model and its founder Adam Neumanns management style.

The company is also raising 1.3 billion in capital, including 800 million in private investment from Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, Fidelity Management and others, the Journal reported.

WeWork did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

A SPAC is a shell firm that uses proceeds from an IPO to buy a private firm.

WeWork was valued at nearly 47 billion in 2019 but saw its valuation plummet to roughly 8 billion after SoftBank was forced to extend a lifesaving financing lifeline to WeWork.

BowX Acquisition raised 420 million in its IPO in August last year.

Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.

Source Reuters