WeWork announced Monday that it would formally pull its IPO filing after a tumultuous series of weeks saw its valuation plummet and the departure of CEO Adam Neumann, per CNBC.
The big picture, via Axios' Dan Primack: The company's new CEOs, Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham, have already made a variety of moves to shore up the company's finances. It currently has around $2 billion of cash on hand and is owed another $1.5 billion next year from shareholder SoftBank, with reports that SoftBank may increase its investment if it can change the original deal terms.
The Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein has called capital one of America's greatest exports, particularly in regards to China. Now there's talk of a blockade.
The big picture: Bloomberg reported on Friday that the White House is considering limitations on U.S. investments in Chinese companies. Several other news outlets reported the same, including Axios. The White House itself did not confirm or deny the reports.
Progyny is ready to go public, and unlike a lot of other health care startups that have slid into the public markets, the fertility benefits company is already profitable.
The big picture: Employers rarely covered in vitro fertilization, egg freezing and other fertility care in the past, and those services are expensive when paying out of pocket — in vitro could cost $25,000 per try.
The market's ebullient mood has soured as September comes to a close and stock traders seem to have lost the risk appetite that had been pushing equities back toward all-time highs.
Why it matters: This week will likely provide an inflection point that will drive the market through the Q3 earnings season, which picks up in mid-October, and could last through the Fed's meeting on Oct. 30.
A huge shift in American business was overshadowed amid impeachment last week: Investors are rethinking hot startups with frothy valuations and putting discipline (and reality) above the myth of the almighty and all-knowing founder.
The big picture: The market is now bringing private valuations around to reality, as skittish Wall Street investors have been punishing billion-dollar-plus initial public offerings with questionable balance sheets or paths to profitability.
Forever 21 said in a statement Sunday night it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and would close a number of stores in the U.S. and across the world. Most stores in Asia and Europe will close, but it would continue operations in Mexico and Latin America.
Why it matters: The Los Angeles-based "helped popularize fast fashion in the United States with its bustling stores and $5 tops," the New York Times notes. Per Axios' Future reporter Erica Pandey, the trend is increasingly coming under fire because it’s creating uncurbed waste and exacerbating retail's environmental harm.
Former Vice President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign demanded in a letter first reported by The Daily Beast that television networks stop booking Rudy Giuliani, arguing that he will "knowingly and willingly lie in order to advance his own narrative."
The big picture: Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney and a frequent guest on cable news, has adamantly defended his and Trump's efforts to push Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden and his son over unsubstantiated corruption allegations. Several of Giuliani's recent appearances have gone viral due to their combative nature — most notably one with CNN's Chris Cuomo last weekend in which Giuliani was forced to walk back his claims that he never asked Ukraine to investigate Biden in the first place.
President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News Saturday he feels "very sorry" for former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, as he appeared to criticize the FBI and the Department of Justice over Ukraine.
