The office-sharing startup is facing federal scrutiny of its business, fundraising methods, and its disclosures to investors in the weeks leading up to its attempted IPO, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg's report that the SEC inquiry is preliminary, and that it may not lead to any allegations of wrongdoing. It also notes the SEC has been known to "kick the tires" of embattled companies in the public eye. WeWork cancelled its planned IPO in late September shortly after ousting its chief executive, Adam Neumann, amid concerns from investors that the business wasn't as profitable as it initially claimed and that Neumann's controversial leadership style was putting the company's future in peril. WeWork was once privately valued at $47 billion, but that number has since fallen to a fraction of that and the company negotiated a rescue deal with SoftBank that gave the investor control.