Getty/Win McNamee
- Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, said he learned a few key lessons from WeWork’s failed initial public offering.
- The banking titan said in an interview with CNBC that the situation reminded him of the importance of having a strong corporate governance structure established before a company files its IPO paperwork.
- The comments come after JPMorgan played a lead role in the office-leasing giant’s attempted listing.
- For more WeWork news, click here.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said everybody involved in WeWork’s failed initial public offering should learn from it, including himself.
“I think there are lessons to be learned about these valuations, how you go public, and how you treat the public shareholder,” Dimon said on CNBC Tuesday. “Those lessons should be learned by everybody who wants to go public.”
Dimon said the situation reminded him how important it is for a company to have the proper corporate governance structure in place before filing its IPO paperwork.
WeWork’s corporate governance was one of its biggest points of criticism because of its lack of female board members and the outsized control held by cofounder Adam Neumann.
“You should have your independent board members before an S-1,” Dimon said in the interview. “You have to make sure you take a lot of time to go through how you disclose this stuff.”
He continued: “Shareholders should be treated like partners. They shouldn’t be treated like what’s the highest price I can get.”
Dimon also said he doesn’t agree that WeWork had a $47 billion valuation just because one investor paid that price in the private markets.
“That’s not price discovery,” he added. “Price discovery is when a lot of smart people around the world knowing all the facts can buy and sell all the time.”
When asked if he feels sorry for Neumann, Dimon said: “I’m not going to go there, I don’t know.”
JPMorgan held a top advisory role in the company’s IPO. The bank also offered WeWork $5 billion in debt funding, but the company opted for SoftBank’s rescue deal instead.
