WeWork, the shared office space giant, gained the backing of some of the world’s top investors, but it received a much colder reception when it tried to sell its shares on Wall Street.

Facing deep skepticism about its business model and corporate governance, the company has delayed its initial public offering by several months. A person with knowledge of the offering says the stock sale, which was expected to happen in a matter of weeks, may wind up being scrapped entirely.

The botched deal may now go down as a lesson of how not to conduct an initial public offering. The We Company, the parent of WeWork, was always going to have a hard time persuading investors to put their faith — and billions of dollars — in a business that is likely to lose money for the foreseeable future. Yet the company and its bankers appear to have misread the markets, and their efforts to put investors at ease fell flat.

This week, the company had been expected to begin a road show — where executives and bankers pitch prospective investors on the offering — two people with knowledge of the deal said. That would have put We’s shares on track to begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market by the end of next week.