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WeWork announced on Monday that it confidentially filed IPO registration paperwork with federal regulators last December, and an amended filing more recently. Axios has learned that the co-working giant has not yet picked bankers, and that the offering is likely to occur in the third or fourth quarters of 2019.
Why it matters: This would be one of the year's most controversial mega-IPOs, as WeWork is a "love it or hate it" sort of company among investors. One person close to the company told Axios that it could become the second-most shorted stock, behind Tesla.
- Some of the biggest skepticism around WeWork's model is whether it could sustain a downturn given its popularity among startups.
- The company has been diversifying its business by adding efforts like a coding school and a children's school.
- It's also been working to sign up large customers such as Microsoft and IBM with huge seat counts and longer contracts to help stabilize its business.
Go deeper: WeWork doubled revenue and loss in 2018