shares of upwork inc upwk rose 12 in premarket trading wednesday after the company that connects freelancers with clients who need work performed said it would buy back a little more than onethird of its 025 convertible debt due 2026 outstanding the company estimates that it will spend about 157 million in cash to repurchase 1968 million aggregate principal amount of the debt the repurchases are expected to close on or about march 27 leaving about 3782 million principal amount of the notes outstanding the stock has gained 22 year to date through tuesday but has tumbled 540 over the past 12 months while the sp 500 spx has lost 113 the past year