Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-10-07)

T E C H N O L O G Y

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Edited by

Rebecca Penty

● Adam and Rebekah Neumann tried to run the company like

an enormous mom-and-pop. That made things complicated

Adam Neumann spent some of his final days as

WeWork’s chief executive officer the same way he

had for countless weekends in recent years: sur-

rounded by family at his house in the Hamptons.

With the company’s plan to go public in tatters, his

control over the business dwindling, and its biggest

investor starting to turn against him, Neumann and

his wife and business partner, Rebekah, and their

five kids unplugged at sundown on Friday, Sept. 20,

to observe the weekly Jewish ritual of Shabbat. At

the same time, SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi

Son was preparing to oust him. Son’s businesses

had more than $10 billion riding on the company in

stock and loans. Over the course of a month, finan-

cial advisers to WeWork determined that the shares

were worth about a quarter of the price SoftBank

paid in January. The problem, Son reasoned, was

Neumann. Within four days, the CEO and his wife

had stepped aside.

WeWork long had the image of a family busi-

ness: a husband-and-wife pair at the helm and

company slogans about how life is “better

together.” Although Adam Neumann started the

business in 2010 with Miguel McKelvey, a kindred

spirit who, like Adam, spent time on a commune

during childhood, they rewrote the founding story

over the years to include Rebekah. She was also

chief brand and impact officer of parent company

We Co., CEO of an education arm of the business

called WeGrow, and one of three people assigned BEN HIDER/GETTY IMAGES

Bloomberg Businessweek October 7, 2019