WeWork considers dramatic discount to the $47 billion IPO valuation

WeWork owner The We Company may seek a valuation in its upcoming initial public offering of between $10 billion and $12 billion, a dramatic discount to the $47 billion valuation it achieved in January, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Were the We Company to press on with the IPO at such a low valuation, it would represent a major turning point in the venture capital industry’s growth over the last decade, which has led to the rise of startups such as Uber Technologies Inc, Snap Inc and Airbnb Inc.

It would mean that the We Company would be at valued less than the $12.8 billion in equity it has raised since it was founded in 2010, according to data provider Crunchbase. And it would be a blow to its biggest backer, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, at a time it is trying to amass $108 billion from investors for its second Vision Fund.