What's going on?

WeWork agreed on Friday to list on the stock market via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) two years after its first attempt flopped � and this time, it�s personal (tweet this).

What does this mean?

WeWork�s had a tumultuous few years to say the least: the office-sharing startup was valued at $47 billion back in 2019 and had bold plans for a much-anticipated initial public offering � only for those plans to implode when investors became nervous about the company�s founder and business model. And things didn�t exactly get any better last year, when stay-at-home orders sent demand for the company�s office space plummeting, forcing it to close locations and cut jobs.

Now, though, everything�s come full circle: WeWork has agreed to merge with a SPAC � a listed company with no business operations that can combine with an unlisted company � to fast-track its arrival onto the stock market.

Why should I care?

For markets: WeWork still talks a big game.

This SPAC deal would value WeWork at $9 billion � more than five times less than at the company�s peak, sure, but $1 billion more than it was worth when it was bailed out back in 2019. That uptick might be because it reportedly �only� lost $3.2 billion last year, compared to $3.5 billion in 2019. The company has high hopes for the future too, confident that its offices will be at least 90% full by the end of 2022.

The bigger picture: Regulators never sleep.

SPACs have raised record amounts of cash from investors this year � but with popularity comes scrutiny, and US regulators are starting to sniff around. They�re reportedly worried that those in charge of SPACs don�t do enough research before they buy target companies � not to mention that there�s a risk of insider trading in the period between the SPAC�s stock market debut and the announcement of a merger target.