Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bhouston 1044 days ago
I was referring to the fiasco of 2019 where WeWork went from $50B to $5B while giving Adam Neumann a $1B payoff - did you miss that, it was on here all the time?

https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-ipo-fiasco-adam-neuma...

The SPAC merger (not IPO) in October 2021 at $9B but then it has continued to slide now down to $250M. That IPO does seem to be trying to get some value out of this turkey by passing it off to public investors.

There was never a viable business here, just hype. Going through its finances that are public, it has never made any money. Its net losses per year are roughly its income in most years. Its valuations were completely speculative.

1 comments

Don't get me wrong - I never saw the value! Just answering the question.

Why in 2021 did they give him that payout? Likely because they thought it offered the best ROI moving forward (and for some shareholders, especially anyone who sold at the post-listing peak, it did).

It definitely wasn't recognition for past success.