Regular readers of this column might recall that I covered the rise and fall of the global office space-sharing start-up in excruciating detail in the lead-up to its botched IPO in September 2019. Ten days before the IPO was abruptly yanked, I wrote that there was no way WeWork’s listing was going ahead even though the biggest global investment banks, including JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs at the time, were still aggressively pushing for it to proceed. It was a daring call because the mainstream global business media was reporting that the IPO was scheduled for the following week.
Quick. Can you name the hottest meme stock traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum are crazy about right now? If all you can come up with is gaming merchandise retailer GameStop, or movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment, you are probably still focused on the January 2021 mania. You are close if you said the bankrupt trucking firm Yellow Corp or Tupperware Brands Corp are the new Kings of meme. The hottest meme stock right now is WeWork, the controversial office space firm and once the poster child of Silicon Valley.
Shares of WeWork fell to just 12.5 US cents on Aug 9 only to soar to 29.5 US cents, or 134% gain, during the next trading day on trading volumes over 13 times the stock’s normal daily turnover. And it has been a roller coaster of a week. On Aug 16, WeWork stock closed at 15 US cents. WeWork is a meme stock now, and every young trader is chasing it because, by its own admission, the firm is staring at imminent bankruptcy.
