‘This Is Not the Way Everybody Behaves.’ How Adam Neumann’s Over-the-Top Style Built WeWork.
His entrepreneurial vision and risk-taking, plus tequila and marijuana, helped fuel We Co.’s breakneck growth. Those qualities are piling up as potential liabilities as the company prepares to go public.
Tom Gara
29d ago
After firing hundreds of staff, the WeWork CEO held a somber all-hands meeting explaining why it was a necessary move, but then trays of tequila were handed out and DMC from Run-DMC burst into the room and performed "It's Tricky" wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/cuq0aM1Tqi
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Things WeWork's Adam Neumann has said to others
-he was interested in becoming Israel's PM
-he was interested in becoming president of the world
-he wants to be world's first trillionaire
-he hopes to live forever
My profile of Adam Neumann!
Here is the first paragraph:
"Adam Neumann was flying high. Literally."
Please read!
The CEO of WeWork left a cereal box full of weed on a private jet last summer and ended up stranded in Israel when the jet’s owner recalled the plane due to fears he was aiding trans-border drug transport
wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/gCnoqmHG52
Smokes a ton of pot
Loves to drink
Makes coworkers drink
Used VC money to pay for 3day bender
Wife fires people w “bad energy”
Etc
Etc
Etc
Was this a hit piece by the National Enquirer? Nope...just the facts via @WSJ
This story starts with the words: "Adam Neumann was flying high. Literally." and only gets better from there. Amazing profile of the WeWork CEO's over-the-top style by @eliotwb wsj.com/articles/this-… via @WSJ
WeWork CEO Adam Neumann:
1. Hopes to “live forever”
2. Is considering running for “president of the world”
3. Is trying to become the world’s first trillionaire
4. Runs a company that loses $500 million every 90 days
“The influence and impact that we are going to have on this Earth is going to be so big." WeWork will “solve the problem of children without parents” and from there go onto other causes such as eradicating world hunger? What WON'T #WeWork do? #AdamNaumann
The WeWork dude is a clown cobbled together out of every ridiculous rich person trend and tic of this moment, but he's enabled by even richer people who are dumb or lazy enough to confuse that for brilliance.
This fabulous bit of the WeWork article today really reminded me of something. wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/4jloWetN6i
"This is not the way everybody behaves." More crushing it from @eliotwb on the WeWork story. A wild read of a brash CEO complete with marijuana, tequila, dreams of living forever, Run DMC & more
Adam Neumann is the Marianne Williamson of Donald Trumps. wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/rPqHgGwPTU
“He told at least one person directly that his ambitions included becoming Israel’s prime minister. More recently, he said that if he ran for anything, it would be president of the world.” Via @eliotwb
"Adam Neumann was flying high. Literally.
WeWork was months away from being valued at $47 billion. Revenue was doubling. And Mr. Neumann was zipping across the Atlantic Ocean in a private jet with friends, smoking marijuana."
@eliotwb profiles We's CEO
One of the best “We” factoids from this article is that Neumann reportedly still eats meat
Is it just me or is the company's valuation chart really starting to look like a middle finger wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/rjGfkHmApb
Tequila, private jets, and Run-DMC: Adam Neumann built WeWork in his own unique way, and is struggling to translate that success into an IPO. wsj.com/articles/this-… via @WSJ
It's almost as if being a megalomaniac is bad for business and employee morale. Whoda thunk it?
While I'm breaking my twitter fast, everyone please read the most bonkers profile of a company ever, @eliotwb's profile of WeWork:
"One day, [WeWork CEO Adam Neumann] proposed, the company could “solve the problem of children without parents"
Breaking on @WSJ:
WeWork board members including from SoftBank want to remove CEO Adam Neumann. (He of course has the ability to fire the board.) wsj.com/articles/some-…
This follows @eliotwb’s revealing profile of Neumann’s eccentric behavior wsj.com/articles/this-…
gotta give it to @eliotwb for a very colorful WeWork CEO profile including a baffling scene of a somber post-layoff company meeting that a dance party with trays of shots ??
What's the term for someone who wants to become "president of the world", and live forever as a trillionaire?
wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/cTQ2JNJrcj
how much of the $1 billion going to charity will be from unpublicized shares cashed out before the shelved IPO
wsj.com/articles/this-…
(just a great job by @eliotwb on this) pic.twitter.com/g5SIQauC4h
"His entrepreneurial vision and risk-taking, plus tequila and marijuana, helped fuel We Co.’s breakneck growth."
Such an awesome parenthetical. You could add that to any sentence.
wsj.com/articles/this-… via @WSJ
Dude is giving tequila *and* Run-DMC a bad name. wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/Z5M2eYOmzO
So many good nuggets in @eliotwb’s profile of WeWork CEO Adam Neumann including the fact that he announced the firing of 7% of staff in a somber all-hands meeting before trays of tequila were handed out and DMC entered to perform “It’s Tricky.”
And yes, kudos to @eliotwb here, particularly this part wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/EzzyPJOVSc
OK, I think we're having a little too much fun here wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/MNgpxiAwzP
The comedy stylings of @WSJ ladies and gentlemen:
"Mr. Neumann moved to the U.S. when he was 22, where he attended Baruch College and tried to start businesses. One was a collapsible heel on women’s shoes that didn’t get off the ground." 🤣
An instant classic: Tequila, private jets, and Run-DMC: Adam Neumann built WeWork in his own unique way, and is struggling to translate that success into an IPO. wsj.com/articles/this-… via @WSJ
It takes a masterful reporter and a writer like @eliotwb to throw gems such as these casually, that make you do second takes. 🙇♂️
wsj.com/articles/this-… pic.twitter.com/IhakcjagiX
Spouse Rebekah (née Paltrow): “I just knew he was the man that was, hopefully, going to help save the world.”
Aspiring world-saver: “Neumann has told several people over the past 2 years that a personal goal is to become the world’s first trillionaire”