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The rise and implosion of WeWork

Business & startups

The rise and implosion of WeWork

12 min

How a company that leased and subleased office space convinced the world it was a world-changing tech startup, ballooned to a $47 billion valuation, and unravelled spectacularly when it tried to go public.

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Show notes

WeWork lost one point six billion dollars while earning only one point eight billion in twenty eighteen.

The company paid Adam Neumann five point nine million dollars for the rights to the word We.

Community-Adjusted EBITDA metrics allowed WeWork to hide fundamental costs like rent and utilities from investors.

SoftBank's Masayoshi Son projected a ten trillion dollar valuation after a twelve minute meeting with Neumann.

WeWork faced forty-seven billion dollars in long-term lease obligations against only four billion in committed revenue.

Neumann's new residential startup Flow reached a billion dollar valuation before generating any revenue.

In this episode

  1. 1Intro1 min
  2. 2The Arbitrage of 'We'2 min
  3. 3The Masayoshi Son Catalyst2 min
  4. 4The S-1 Reckoning3 min
  5. 5The Thirty-Three Day Collapse2 min
  6. 6Chapter 11 and the Aftermath1 min
  7. 7Outro1 min

Sources

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The rise and implosion of WeWork — Fylom