WeWork, SmileDirectClub, and Peloton: Here are the 5 biggest 'unicorn' IPO flops of 2019

Ticker: Uber

IPO date: May 10, 2019

IPO price: $45 per share

Performance on first day of trading: -7.6%

Performance from IPO price through December 10: -38%

Ticker: SDC

IPO date: September 12, 2019

IPO price: $23 per share

Performance on first day of trading: -27%

Performance from IPO price through December 10: -65%

Ticker: PTON

IPO date: September 26, 2019

IPO price: $29 per share

Performance on first day of trading: -11%

Year to date performance through December 10: +13%

WeWork actually did not make it through the IPO process. After Uber and Lyft's disastrous IPOs, investors were on high alert for unprofitable unicorn companies looking to list on the public market.

Then, WeWork released its S-1, or prospectus, a regulatory filing all companies looking to list publicly must submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"When everyone talked about WeWork and they the opened the prospectus, it was like, you're kidding," Smith told Markets Insider. "No one could believe what was inside."

She continued: "This was so bad. We heard everything was so good."

In six weeks, the company went from one with a $47 billion valuation to one that was reportedly considering bankruptcy. In addition, WeWork's cofounder and then-CEO Adam Neumann stepped down from the top job.