WEBVTT FILE
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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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MAN: Mikey, is there any reason
you wanted the teleprompter
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behind the camera so I'm looking
straight at you, or you don't care?
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MIKEY: No, I think it's okay.
MAN: Okay.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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MIKEY:
We're in a good spot.
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MAN: 'Cause my eyes are
a little shooting to the right.
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MIKEY: That's okay, though.
MAN: Are you sure?
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MIKEY: Mm-hmm.
MAN: Okay.
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MIKEY:
So you wanna start from the top?
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MAN: Yes.
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I'm just gonna do each point.
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MIKEY: Ready?
MAN: I am born ready.
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[sighs]
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Welcome.
And thank you for coming.
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Real estate is going
through a fundamental shift,
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from a "fixed cost per seat" commodity
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to an experiential-differentiated...
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Real estate is going
through a fundamental shift,
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from a must-have...
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It's a mouthful.
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Fromm a "fixed cost per seat" commodity
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to a must-have experiential...
[indistinct chatter]
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I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.
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Real estate...
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Guys, I need no sounds.
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If you're moving and making
a sound and I'm speaking, freeze.
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Real estate is going
through a fundamental shift,
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from a "fixed cost per seat" com- -
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Ehhh! [sighs] We'll clean it up.
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I think we're great,
and I think we're preparing
for the roadshow right now.
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[farts]
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[crew shrieks, laughs]
Sorry.
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The universe had to release it.
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[crew laughing]
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Shh! You guys gotta flow with me.
After I do the...
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Shh! Just let the air out.
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REPORTER 1: WeWork is garnering
questions about its business model.
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REPORTER 2: There are all kinds of things
that just pop out as red flags in this.
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REPORTER 3: It feels like it's
valued as a tech company,
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but this is a real estate company.
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REPORTER 4: The founder
wanted total, complete control for life.
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REPORTER 5: The company
went from a $47 billion valuation
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to near bankruptcy in just six weeks.
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REPORTER 6: The future of the company
very uncertain at this point.
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SCOTT GALLOWAY:
If you tell a 30-something male
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that he's Jesus Christ,
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he's inclined to believe you.
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- Start from the top. I'm gonna get this.
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Okay, I got it.
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- ♪ Ooh-la-la, ah, we we ♪
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♪ Ooh-la-la, ah, we we ♪
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♪ Ooh-la-la,
ah, we we ♪
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♪ Ah, we--ah, we-- ♪
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♪ Ah-ah-- Ah-ah-ah-ah ♪
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♪ Ah, we we we we we we... ♪
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ADAM NEUMANN:
Social media companies promised us
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that technology will bring us together.
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Well, I gotta tell you, I've been
observing a little bit what's happening
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around the world right now
and I actually feel like a lot of times
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technology is pulling us apart.
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And the secret of success in our opinion,
is it's about real connection.
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It's about treating other people
the way you wanna be treated.
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It's about being part of something greater
than yourself.
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I want us to never forget that the future,
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while leveraging technology,
lies in ourselves.
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It is us who will blaze the path forward,
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paved not with algorithms,
not with software,
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but with values, with friendship,
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with common goals, and most importantly,
with humanity.
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The next revolution is going to be
the We revolution.
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And it will restore in each one of us
a sense of dignity and community
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without which
greatness cannot be achieved.
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[bell clanging]
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REPORTER: Not in generations
has Wall Street absorbed
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the number of body blows it took today.
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NEWS ANCHOR:
The American financial system
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is rocked to its foundation,
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as top Wall Street institutions topple
under a mountain of debt.
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- After 2008, 2009, you had this really
interesting period in U. S. economics
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where the economy itself
was in a recession
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and we were looking for some way to
get out of it, we were looking for hope.
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And hope was found in technology.
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And people were like,
"That's the future. Tech is the future.
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It's going to be the lifeline
that pulls us out of these doldrums."
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And at the time, you had a lot of sort of
tech boosterism and techno-optimism.
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The idea was not just that these companies
were going to become valuable,
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but that they represented
something really fundamental and beautiful
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about the future of human civilization.
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It was a period where you were rewarded
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if you could articulate
a vision of your company
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that wasn't just going to make money.
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It was going to change the world.
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MAN:
What is your business built on?
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- We.
- You...
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I need you to tell me that.
"My business..."
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- Are we starting?
MAN: Yeah, we'll just start
and then I'll get official.
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- Okay, you got it, you'll get--
He's not in your picture?
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MAN: Now, don't worry about--
- He's not in your frame?
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MAN: We got you covered,
you got us covered.
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- WeWork is a community--
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Wait, who do you want me to
look at, you or the...? Okay.
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So they're taking this side.
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This is, we go to the details here.
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MAN: You look fantastic.
- We focus on a lot of details here.
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RANDALL LANE: Adam arrived
in New York like many immigrants,
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ready to hustle, full of ideas.
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And, uh, like many who've
come to New York before him,
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uh, they didn't really work.
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♪ orchestral music playing ♪
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He had this idea called Krawlers,
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which was for babies
so they could have padded knees.
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You know, babies have been doing fine for
millions of years without padded knees.
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ADAM: Our tagline was,
"Just because they don't tell you
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doesn't meant they don't hurt."
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[audience laughing]
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ALEX KONRAD:
He's couch-surfing with his sister,
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who's had some success as a model.
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- What you see is what you get.
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ALEX:
And I think Adam really loves
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the New York lifestyle,
the nightlife.
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But professionally,
he's kind of a dilettante.
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ADAM:
I'm working in Dumbo, Brooklyn,
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and in the building there's an architect
whose name is Miguel McKelvey.
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And me and Miguel are talking about
different ideas of real estate businesses.
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- I was attracted
and interested in him because
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he was bringing energy to the room,
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and perhaps for him
I could be a calming element
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and take in some of that energy
that he had
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and reflect it back at him
in an interesting way.
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ADAM:
And we went out to build a business
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that's going to change
the way people work,
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that's based on community
and redefined success.
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RANDALL: And from
minute one with their partnership,
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it was Miguel who was Mr. Inside
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and Adam was Mr. Outside.
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ADAM:
The world has shifted.
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It used to be an "I" world. Right?
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iPhone, iMac, all about me, me, me.
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If you take the "me" and you flip it
and you get the "we,"
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you understand that we're
about to change the way people work
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and the way people live,
but more importantly, change the world.
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VIDEO NARRATOR:
The kibbutz.
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A working collective in a free society.
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Invented, unique,
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contemporary.
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The most important social experiment
of the last hundred years.
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RANDALL:
Every great business
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has a founding story
and WeWork's is excellent.
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You have Adam and Miguel,
uh, two children of communes.
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Literally grew up in communes
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and, you know, one in Oregon
and one in Israel in a kibbutz.
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And they wind up together with this idea
that they're gonna create a work commune.
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ADAM:
When we thought of WeWork,
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one of the thoughts
that I had in my head is,
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we need a capitalistic kibbutz.
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On the one hand, let's create a sharing
economy where everybody shares.
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On the other hand, if you choose
to work harder than others,
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you should also be compensated more.
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RANDALL:
Like any narrative,
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it gets boiled down and distilled.
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And as the company evolves,
the founding story evolves.
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But their founding narrative
actually really did translate
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to a lot of their early business success.
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- I mean, co-working,
as we think of it now,
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didn't really exist at the time.
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RANDALL: Before WeWork,
the real big player was Regus.
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♪ upbeat jazz playing ♪
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- Welcome to Regus, the new way to work.
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A global workstyle solution for today's
rapidly changing face of business.
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RANDALL: As corporate
and institutional as you could get,
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with cubicles and dull colors.
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And walking into a Regus
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was like walking into
the back of a dentist's office.
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ADAM:
We started by taking buildings.
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We cut them up to small spaces.
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We built everything from glass.
It was very communal.
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It's very see-through and transparent.
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We put in common spaces,
and we basically created
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a community of small businesses,
entrepreneurs and freelancers.
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And in that community, people are
almost forced to help other people.
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And when you have
a business community that's built
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on these kind of moral standards,
everybody becomes more successful.
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- In January 2010,
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I went in to lead
a networking meeting at 7 a. m.,
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and that day the guest of a guest
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was Adam Neumann,
the founder of WeWork.
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When the meeting ended,
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we ended up standing
next to each other, talking,
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and he said,
"Oh, I might need a mortgage."
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I said, "Well, I'm opening
the mortgage seat.
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I'm gonna go do something else."
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He said, "What are you gonna do?"
I said, "I don't know.
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I want to do something that lights me up
and makes me feel excited."
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And he said, "Well, I just took
this building down in Soho.
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"I'm launching this concept called WeWork.
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You should come and take a look."
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♪ calm orchestral music playing ♪
[bell chimes]
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Three days later on Monday morning,
I started as their second employee.
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[whistles]
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I still have this email
that Adam sent to me
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at one o'clock in the morning
the night before my first morning.
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I woke up at 8 a. m. to an email that said,
"Good morning, period.
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Let's build the largest
networking community on the planet"
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And not even a period at the end.
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I showed up and we were three weeks
before our opening day,
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where we opened the first half of
one of the floors in our first building,
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which was 17 offices,
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and when I started
on that first day, Adam said,
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"I want to open in three weeks
and I want to be full with a wait list."
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[chuckles]
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And we were off to the races
from the very beginning.
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[drill whirring]
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- I want to talk to the investors.
I don't know who they are
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and where they're at,
but they're looking at this.
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I want them to feel
that I'm talking to them.
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MAN: At them.
- At them. To them.
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This is a story that I'm telling them.
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MAN: Okay, then, go right to the camera.
- Okay.
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MAN: Perfect. I'm ready.
- Okay.
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MAN: Action.
- Hey, guys.
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This is WeWork, the world's
first physical social network.
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Our mission is to empower
the world through collaboration.
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We know that the future of the world
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is in small business,
not in corporate America.
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So we're building a community
that's transparent and that's accountable.
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That is WeWork.
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♪
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PATRICK: Hey, guys,
Patrick here and I wanted to give you
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a quick tour of my WeWork office.
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WOMAN: I moved into a new office space
called WeWork.
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♪ It's beautiful ♪
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What I do like about WeWork,
we can, like, work wherever,
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and it's just like
a good environment to be in.
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[clarinet playing]
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JUSTIN ZHEN: There's a saying
that companies in Silicon Valley
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00:11:27.646 --> 00:11:29.940
are founded in garages.
238
00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:32.401
In New York City,
they're founded in kitchens.
239
00:11:32.401 --> 00:11:35.737
MAN:
There it is. That's my new space.
240
00:11:35.737 --> 00:11:37.155
Yeah.
241
00:11:37.155 --> 00:11:39.992
JUSTIN:
The thing that made WeWork more special
242
00:11:39.992 --> 00:11:43.620
or more attractive was just
its marketing, right?
243
00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:45.289
- This says, "Do what you love."
244
00:11:45.289 --> 00:11:48.125
- Our friends who were doing
their tech startups,
245
00:11:48.125 --> 00:11:49.751
they all worked in WeWorks.
246
00:11:49.751 --> 00:11:53.338
We didn't even consider
any other co-working space.
247
00:11:53.338 --> 00:11:55.549
The thinking was,
if you have a tech startup
248
00:11:55.549 --> 00:11:57.759
and you want it to be successful,
249
00:11:57.759 --> 00:11:59.803
you start it at a WeWork.
250
00:11:59.803 --> 00:12:02.431
- I love co-working spaces so much.
251
00:12:02.431 --> 00:12:05.267
So let's start over here
at the snacks area.
252
00:12:05.267 --> 00:12:06.894
MAN:
We have the snack area.
253
00:12:06.894 --> 00:12:08.812
Coffee, lemon water.
254
00:12:08.812 --> 00:12:10.105
"Do what you love."
255
00:12:10.105 --> 00:12:13.317
I love drinking coffee, so...
I'm gonna do that.
256
00:12:13.317 --> 00:12:15.819
JUSTIN:
Everyone wanted to be an entrepreneur.
257
00:12:15.819 --> 00:12:17.654
We all want to raise $10 million.
258
00:12:17.654 --> 00:12:20.490
- I'm the founder of BrunchCritic.com.
259
00:12:20.490 --> 00:12:22.242
- Our company is SmileBack.
260
00:12:22.242 --> 00:12:24.203
- Co-founder of UPlanMe.
261
00:12:24.203 --> 00:12:25.913
- Scroll Kit.
- Consumer.
262
00:12:25.913 --> 00:12:27.331
- Handshake.
- MyThing.
263
00:12:27.331 --> 00:12:28.790
- Spindows.
- Scruff.
264
00:12:28.790 --> 00:12:30.083
- Yoink.
- RoomHints.
265
00:12:30.083 --> 00:12:32.211
- The company is Beer to Buds.
266
00:12:33.295 --> 00:12:36.340
ALEX:
WeWork embodied an optimism
267
00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:40.969
and this millennial excitement
about how to work
268
00:12:40.969 --> 00:12:44.431
and how to do things together,
do things flexibly
269
00:12:44.431 --> 00:12:49.603
and rebel against the office culture
set by the '80s and '90s.
270
00:12:52.147 --> 00:12:55.234
It was almost like somehow
being a member of a club,
271
00:12:55.234 --> 00:12:57.653
beyond just where your office building is.
272
00:12:57.653 --> 00:13:00.489
ADAM: The world is changing,
the way people work is changing.
273
00:13:00.489 --> 00:13:03.325
If you're 22 today and you're
out of college, you can't go and work
274
00:13:03.325 --> 00:13:05.911
for corporate America in the old way
and you need a new solution.
275
00:13:05.911 --> 00:13:08.372
We're sharing the same space,
we're doing different businesses.
276
00:13:08.372 --> 00:13:11.834
And we understand that, through helping
each other, we can become more successful.
277
00:13:12.626 --> 00:13:14.670
MAN: How fast are you growing?
ADAM: Very.
278
00:13:14.670 --> 00:13:16.505
MAN: What kind of numbers
are we talking about?
279
00:13:16.505 --> 00:13:18.257
ADAM: We're talking about
probably one of the fastest
280
00:13:18.257 --> 00:13:21.468
physical expansions that has been seen
for the past 10 years.
281
00:13:25.389 --> 00:13:28.892
- When I got introduced
to Adam through a friend,
282
00:13:28.892 --> 00:13:31.270
uh, I came in.
283
00:13:31.270 --> 00:13:34.481
I didn't even know the company
WeWork ever existed.
284
00:13:34.481 --> 00:13:38.110
He went right to the point. He's like,
"Look, we don't have a lot of time.
285
00:13:38.110 --> 00:13:41.530
"I have a campground upstate.
I want to host an event.
286
00:13:41.530 --> 00:13:43.991
I need you to help me.
I believe that you can help me."
287
00:13:43.991 --> 00:13:47.035
And then he told me the budget,
and I said, "Well...
288
00:13:47.035 --> 00:13:48.745
"you know, your budget's not too great.
289
00:13:48.745 --> 00:13:51.915
"I don't know how I'm, uh,
you know, gonna really pull this off
290
00:13:51.915 --> 00:13:53.417
and make a couple dollars."
291
00:13:53.417 --> 00:13:55.544
He said, "Don't worry,
you know, we're gonna grow.
292
00:13:55.544 --> 00:13:57.254
"We're gonna be big.
You're gonna stay with us.
293
00:13:57.254 --> 00:14:00.257
You're gonna do a lot of work with us.
You'll see, you'll see, you'll see."
294
00:14:00.257 --> 00:14:02.301
- It's exciting, it's gonna get bigger.
295
00:14:02.301 --> 00:14:04.261
LIRON DAVID:
Something about him stood out.
296
00:14:04.261 --> 00:14:08.182
I couldn't put my finger on it,
but Adam's a very convincing guy.
297
00:14:08.182 --> 00:14:11.101
He's... He's got a big personality and--
298
00:14:11.101 --> 00:14:13.812
I walked out of that meeting,
I said, "Okay, I'll make it happen."
299
00:14:13.812 --> 00:14:16.064
[bird chirping, frog croaking]
300
00:14:16.064 --> 00:14:19.443
We pulled every favor...
301
00:14:19.443 --> 00:14:22.571
from equipment to performers.
302
00:14:22.571 --> 00:14:26.241
And within a couple weeks,
produced what's now become
303
00:14:26.241 --> 00:14:27.492
WeWork Summer Camp.
304
00:14:27.492 --> 00:14:29.620
ADAM:
Hello, WeWorld.
305
00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:33.373
Thanks to you, things have been
going very well.
306
00:14:33.373 --> 00:14:37.794
And in gratitude, we decided to throw
a 72-hour weekend...
307
00:14:37.794 --> 00:14:39.546
[child cooing]
...rager!
308
00:14:39.546 --> 00:14:42.299
♪ frenzied symphonic music playing ♪
309
00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:45.135
LIRON: WeWork Summer Camp
was Fyre Festival gone right.
310
00:14:45.135 --> 00:14:47.012
PASSENGERS:
Do it, do it!
311
00:14:47.012 --> 00:14:50.098
LIRON: It's this mini festival
for members at WeWork,
312
00:14:50.098 --> 00:14:52.100
and all the employees
313
00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:56.730
going to this remote
children's summer camp
314
00:14:56.730 --> 00:14:58.106
in the middle of nowhere.
315
00:14:59.608 --> 00:15:01.276
MAN:
The most rad activity?
316
00:15:01.276 --> 00:15:04.530
WOMAN: Oh, my gosh, there has
been so much fun stuff to do.
317
00:15:04.530 --> 00:15:06.615
MAN: Honestly, these obstacle ropes
really challenged me.
318
00:15:06.615 --> 00:15:08.534
I was contemplating life up there.
319
00:15:08.534 --> 00:15:11.203
- Whoaaaa!
WOMAN: I think they're trying to kill us.
320
00:15:11.203 --> 00:15:13.622
MAN: I was just wakeboarding.
MAN 2: Waterskiing and tubing.
321
00:15:13.622 --> 00:15:14.831
Hit my head really hard
322
00:15:14.831 --> 00:15:17.084
and then had to lay down
and drink coconut water afterwards.
323
00:15:17.084 --> 00:15:19.962
- We almost tipped over like four times
and I had to ask the lifeguards
324
00:15:19.962 --> 00:15:21.922
to come get me, 'cause I was so scared.
325
00:15:21.922 --> 00:15:24.758
WOMAN: I went to the survival skills thing
and that was really fun.
326
00:15:24.758 --> 00:15:26.093
- Oh, the balloon things where
327
00:15:26.093 --> 00:15:28.178
you're like in the bubble
and like you run into people.
328
00:15:28.178 --> 00:15:29.054
[grunting]
329
00:15:30.097 --> 00:15:33.058
LIRON: WeWork Summer Camp,
I think, really kicked off
330
00:15:33.058 --> 00:15:35.602
the entire event side of the company,
331
00:15:35.602 --> 00:15:39.690
which became one of the most well-known,
you know, elements
332
00:15:39.690 --> 00:15:41.149
of what WeWork was.
333
00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:43.944
♪ triumphant fanfare plays ♪
334
00:15:43.944 --> 00:15:46.321
- I think I was probably,
I don't wanna misstate it,
335
00:15:46.321 --> 00:15:48.031
like the tenth lawyer at WeWork.
336
00:15:48.031 --> 00:15:50.701
Um, and it was just
an amazing, amazing culture.
337
00:15:50.701 --> 00:15:53.161
You know, the people were great.
338
00:15:53.161 --> 00:15:55.372
Uh, I think they shared
the same values I did, right?
339
00:15:55.372 --> 00:15:59.418
They basically had, it was like
a "work hard, play hard" environment.
340
00:15:59.418 --> 00:16:01.879
♪ Beethoven's Fifth Symphony playing ♪
341
00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.923
But it's totally different from
that at a white-shoe law firm.
342
00:16:04.923 --> 00:16:07.593
And that's because
of these company events.
343
00:16:07.593 --> 00:16:09.845
I mean, it is, it is legitimately
344
00:16:09.845 --> 00:16:12.472
the craziest work experience
you'll ever have in your life.
345
00:16:12.472 --> 00:16:16.351
♪ electronic music pounding ♪
346
00:16:16.351 --> 00:16:19.146
I think at four o'clock,
they start serving alcohol.
347
00:16:19.146 --> 00:16:21.857
And when I say they're serving alcohol,
348
00:16:21.857 --> 00:16:23.609
they are serving alcohol.
349
00:16:23.609 --> 00:16:26.778
Like every 50 yards,
there's like a bar set up.
350
00:16:26.778 --> 00:16:28.197
And it's unlimited.
351
00:16:28.197 --> 00:16:30.991
Like, if you wanted to drink
till the end of time,
352
00:16:30.991 --> 00:16:32.451
you could drink till the end of time.
353
00:16:32.451 --> 00:16:35.204
- Come on, Neumann. Gimme some more,
gimme some more!
354
00:16:35.204 --> 00:16:37.331
[cheering]
355
00:16:37.331 --> 00:16:38.665
DON LEWIS:
At all these events,
356
00:16:38.665 --> 00:16:41.793
during the day you listen
to presentations, speeches.
357
00:16:41.793 --> 00:16:44.213
There was always like
some famous people there.
358
00:16:44.922 --> 00:16:46.798
And then, you know, at night,
you do the WeWork thing,
359
00:16:46.798 --> 00:16:48.217
which is kind of just party.
360
00:16:48.217 --> 00:16:49.593
[crowd cheering]
361
00:16:49.593 --> 00:16:51.803
- ♪ Go, go, go, go, go... ♪
362
00:16:51.803 --> 00:16:55.140
DON: Adam grew up in Israel,
only had one TV channel.
363
00:16:55.140 --> 00:16:57.434
And he saw a lot of movies
like Animal House ...
364
00:16:57.434 --> 00:17:00.312
- Thanks, I needed that.
[glass shatters]
365
00:17:00.312 --> 00:17:01.813
DON:
And The Gong Show.
366
00:17:01.813 --> 00:17:04.066
So, in a lot of the WeWork space,
there was a gong.
367
00:17:04.066 --> 00:17:05.901
At a lot of big events,
somebody hit a gong.
368
00:17:05.901 --> 00:17:07.361
[gong rings]
369
00:17:07.361 --> 00:17:10.781
And all WeWork spaces, everybody knows,
there was kegs of beer.
370
00:17:10.781 --> 00:17:13.450
You know, it's beautiful young people.
371
00:17:13.450 --> 00:17:15.827
Coworkers got along there amazingly.
372
00:17:15.827 --> 00:17:18.539
Like, you met people
from all over the world.
373
00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:20.874
♪ electronic music pounding ♪
374
00:17:20.874 --> 00:17:23.710
I think people really liked
the coolness of it.
375
00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:26.171
And that's kind of what was being sold.
376
00:17:26.171 --> 00:17:28.173
[crowd cheering]
377
00:17:28.173 --> 00:17:32.094
- I am, I am so happy to have
all of you here tonight.
378
00:17:32.094 --> 00:17:33.929
[crowd whooping]
Like, this is unbelievable.
379
00:17:33.929 --> 00:17:34.888
Who was here last year?
380
00:17:34.888 --> 00:17:36.139
Raise your hand
if you were here last year!
381
00:17:36.139 --> 00:17:39.268
[cheering]
382
00:17:39.268 --> 00:17:42.855
We were very worried that
we couldn't do better than last year,
383
00:17:42.855 --> 00:17:45.566
and I said to everybody,
"There must be a way."
384
00:17:45.566 --> 00:17:48.360
I said, "Well, what if we
add one more day,
385
00:17:48.360 --> 00:17:51.989
"do twice as many people,
five times as much alcohol?
386
00:17:51.989 --> 00:17:53.782
Then we could do this again!"
387
00:17:53.782 --> 00:17:55.826
MAN: Alcohol!
388
00:17:55.826 --> 00:17:57.828
ADAM: I think the thing
that all of us know is,
389
00:17:57.828 --> 00:17:59.788
if you wanna succeed in this world,
390
00:17:59.788 --> 00:18:02.040
you have to build something
that has intention.
391
00:18:02.040 --> 00:18:05.878
And what puts us together, all of us here,
is because we wanna do something
392
00:18:05.878 --> 00:18:08.547
that actually makes
the world a better place,
393
00:18:08.547 --> 00:18:10.424
and we wanna make money doing it.
394
00:18:10.424 --> 00:18:12.759
[cheering and applause]
395
00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:14.428
It's okay.
396
00:18:15.929 --> 00:18:19.349
- I moved to New York in my early 20s,
397
00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:24.855
and I got off of a plane
with two suitcases.
398
00:18:24.855 --> 00:18:27.107
And I was going to live
with my sister's friend.
399
00:18:27.107 --> 00:18:29.359
♪
400
00:18:31.904 --> 00:18:35.365
I remember taking a cab over there,
401
00:18:35.365 --> 00:18:37.618
and it was at night
and just looking at the city
402
00:18:37.618 --> 00:18:39.453
and being in awe.
403
00:18:39.453 --> 00:18:41.538
Like I truly could not
believe I was there.
404
00:18:43.790 --> 00:18:47.169
My first job was at a hedge fund,
405
00:18:47.169 --> 00:18:49.796
and I was an executive assistant there.
406
00:18:49.796 --> 00:18:53.383
Like I had moved to New York
to "find my dreams."
407
00:18:53.383 --> 00:18:56.553
And here I was
really, really kind of lost.
408
00:18:57.304 --> 00:19:01.308
The friend reached out to me and said,
"I have a friend who has a startup
409
00:19:01.308 --> 00:19:03.727
and he's looking for an assistant.
Are you interested?"
410
00:19:03.727 --> 00:19:05.270
And I got connected to Adam.
411
00:19:06.688 --> 00:19:10.359
I walked in and Adam was super casual,
412
00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:14.279
very laid-back, very charismatic
from the moment I saw him.
413
00:19:14.279 --> 00:19:17.032
And he's very tall.
414
00:19:17.032 --> 00:19:20.827
And so he has a like
very commanding presence.
415
00:19:20.827 --> 00:19:23.747
Um, and he's also really, really...
416
00:19:23.747 --> 00:19:25.415
he's really friendly.
417
00:19:25.415 --> 00:19:28.919
ADAM: Hello, how are you?
MAN: This is our founder, Adam Neumann.
418
00:19:28.919 --> 00:19:30.587
ESTHER: Hi.
- Hey, how are you, Esther?
419
00:19:30.587 --> 00:19:33.674
- Nice to meet you.
- Joseph, why is
your office the messiest one?
420
00:19:33.674 --> 00:19:35.592
Shake my hand, it's good for the movie.
421
00:19:35.592 --> 00:19:37.177
Don't be shy, look at the camera.
422
00:19:37.177 --> 00:19:38.637
That's good.
- Hello.
423
00:19:38.637 --> 00:19:40.722
- And he was giving me
a tour of the space,
424
00:19:40.722 --> 00:19:43.058
and I was interviewing at the same time,
425
00:19:43.058 --> 00:19:46.728
and we were just talking about their dream
of what WeWork would become.
426
00:19:46.728 --> 00:19:49.356
- You gotta put something
that we can grow into.
427
00:19:49.356 --> 00:19:51.316
We need to think...
428
00:19:51.316 --> 00:19:53.235
half a year forward if not a year.
429
00:19:53.235 --> 00:19:56.488
MEGAN MALLOW: This is not just about
changing the way people work.
430
00:19:56.488 --> 00:19:59.324
We're gonna change, ultimately,
431
00:19:59.324 --> 00:20:02.703
every facet of the way
that people interact.
432
00:20:03.453 --> 00:20:05.372
It just really spoke to me.
433
00:20:05.372 --> 00:20:08.208
And I felt like, I felt
changed from that moment.
434
00:20:08.208 --> 00:20:09.626
- Hey.
435
00:20:09.626 --> 00:20:13.255
It's embarrassing, though,
with the camera in my face.
436
00:20:13.255 --> 00:20:16.133
DEREK THOMPSON:
Millennials don't just want a job.
437
00:20:16.133 --> 00:20:18.802
And they don't just want a career.
438
00:20:18.802 --> 00:20:21.096
They want a calling.
439
00:20:21.096 --> 00:20:23.599
And I will give Adam Neumann credit here.
440
00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:25.642
He assumed that everybody
441
00:20:25.642 --> 00:20:29.438
was achieving their calling
by participating in WeWork.
442
00:20:29.438 --> 00:20:33.942
LISA SKYE: He'll go down as one of
the most incredible salesmen in the world
443
00:20:33.942 --> 00:20:37.237
because he can get anyone to do
444
00:20:37.237 --> 00:20:40.782
whatever it is that he wants them to do
and what he sees in the vision.
445
00:20:40.782 --> 00:20:44.828
- I lived in 13 different places
until I moved to the U. S. when I was 23.
446
00:20:44.828 --> 00:20:48.624
And I had to go through
many different communities,
447
00:20:48.624 --> 00:20:51.793
and every time you go to a new school
as a kid, it's not an easy thing.
448
00:20:51.793 --> 00:20:54.880
ALEX:
Adam's world view was heavily shaped
449
00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.633
by this kind of nomadic childhood
450
00:20:57.633 --> 00:21:00.219
and a desire to belong.
451
00:21:00.219 --> 00:21:03.805
What he always wanted
was to kind of be part of this
452
00:21:03.805 --> 00:21:05.974
"sum is greater than the parts" collective
453
00:21:05.974 --> 00:21:08.810
where he still is kind of
the center of attention.
454
00:21:08.810 --> 00:21:10.896
- When I say "We," you say...
455
00:21:10.896 --> 00:21:12.356
ALL: Work!
- We!
456
00:21:12.356 --> 00:21:14.149
CROWD: Work!
- We!
457
00:21:14.149 --> 00:21:15.651
- Work!
- We!
458
00:21:15.651 --> 00:21:17.778
DON:
At all these company events,
459
00:21:17.778 --> 00:21:21.490
Adam comes out, the lights are down,
460
00:21:21.490 --> 00:21:25.202
the strobe lights are going,
the crazy graphics are going.
461
00:21:25.202 --> 00:21:30.499
ANNOUNCER: Please welcome
WeWork co-founder and CEO, Adam Neumann.
462
00:21:30.499 --> 00:21:32.751
[cheering and applause]
463
00:21:34.878 --> 00:21:38.590
- Thank you so much for coming tonight,
and I can't wait to get started.
464
00:21:38.590 --> 00:21:41.343
- I've kind of equated Adam
to like, you know,
465
00:21:41.343 --> 00:21:44.304
one of these, you know,
spiritual or religious people...
466
00:21:44.304 --> 00:21:46.139
- Lord God...
467
00:21:46.139 --> 00:21:50.435
DON: ...who think they can cure
like the plague by touching your head.
468
00:21:50.435 --> 00:21:51.728
PASTOR: Oh, Jesus!
469
00:21:51.728 --> 00:21:53.772
- Like he literally had people bought in
470
00:21:53.772 --> 00:21:55.774
and he grabs in a room like that...
471
00:21:55.774 --> 00:21:58.902
- You're a creator, and you're a creator,
and I know you're a creator.
472
00:21:58.902 --> 00:22:01.864
And the reason we are all creators
473
00:22:01.864 --> 00:22:04.908
is because we do something
that's greater than ourselves.
474
00:22:04.908 --> 00:22:07.286
- When I speak to somebody
who's so passionate about something,
475
00:22:07.286 --> 00:22:09.288
it's really difficult to not
476
00:22:09.288 --> 00:22:11.498
let that soak over me.
477
00:22:11.498 --> 00:22:14.293
You could not help but drink in
what he was saying,
478
00:22:14.293 --> 00:22:15.711
and it became your dream, too.
479
00:22:15.711 --> 00:22:18.088
ADAM:
If we know how to treat each other...
480
00:22:18.088 --> 00:22:21.175
DON: You know, it's a lot of younger
people who've never really worked before.
481
00:22:21.175 --> 00:22:24.678
They were working like around the clock,
and they really, really believe in this.
482
00:22:24.678 --> 00:22:28.140
MEGAN:
I was in my mid-20s looking for purpose
483
00:22:28.140 --> 00:22:31.310
and here's this person selling this dream,
484
00:22:31.310 --> 00:22:34.813
and...
I was an easy target for that.
485
00:22:34.813 --> 00:22:38.942
I definitely wanted the world
he was telling me about.
486
00:22:38.942 --> 00:22:43.322
- I sometimes feel that every
single person in this room
487
00:22:43.322 --> 00:22:46.825
is me having a different experience.
488
00:22:46.825 --> 00:22:48.160
And imagine...
489
00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.746
DON: If you're a 25-year-old
and it's your first job,
490
00:22:50.746 --> 00:22:53.707
going to orientation and chanting,
"WeWork, WeWork, WeWork!"
491
00:22:53.707 --> 00:22:55.417
you know, may seem normal.
492
00:22:55.417 --> 00:22:57.419
ADAM:
All right, so now, go on, Sherman.
493
00:22:58.504 --> 00:23:01.465
DON: If you're 45 and you've worked
at law firms and whatever,
494
00:23:01.465 --> 00:23:03.175
you're like, "Okay, this is different."
495
00:23:03.175 --> 00:23:04.676
But, you know,
you're into it, you're there.
496
00:23:04.676 --> 00:23:06.595
You get down with what people are doing.
497
00:23:08.597 --> 00:23:12.142
LIRON: My experience with WeWork,
it was like living in another world.
498
00:23:12.142 --> 00:23:15.854
It was living in a world
where people were just happy.
499
00:23:15.854 --> 00:23:18.315
Right? They were happy to be
around each other.
500
00:23:18.315 --> 00:23:23.070
What WeWork created was this environment
of present existence
501
00:23:23.070 --> 00:23:26.949
and celebrating life with, with meaning.
502
00:23:26.949 --> 00:23:31.328
The world is a dark place,
and this little cave of WeWork
503
00:23:31.328 --> 00:23:33.539
was my happy spot.
504
00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:37.626
- The only thing that stands
in the way of achieving anything you want
505
00:23:37.626 --> 00:23:39.086
is just you.
506
00:23:39.086 --> 00:23:40.963
You know the most amazing thing...
507
00:23:40.963 --> 00:23:45.008
DON: At one of these events,
I was sitting towards the back,
508
00:23:45.008 --> 00:23:46.844
and there was an older usher there.
509
00:23:46.844 --> 00:23:48.846
And it was an African-American guy.
510
00:23:48.846 --> 00:23:51.849
And he just started
asking me some questions.
511
00:23:51.849 --> 00:23:54.601
And he was like, you know,
"What's the company about?
512
00:23:54.601 --> 00:23:56.228
What do you do there?"
513
00:23:56.228 --> 00:23:58.313
And, you know,
I'm answering his questions.
514
00:23:58.313 --> 00:24:03.026
We're going on and on, and he just
kind of changed his tone of voice
515
00:24:03.026 --> 00:24:05.112
and he kind of looked down
on me a little bit
516
00:24:05.112 --> 00:24:08.156
and he was like, "Brother,
can I ask you a serious question?"
517
00:24:08.156 --> 00:24:10.450
I was like, "Yeah.
Sure, ask me the question."
518
00:24:10.450 --> 00:24:12.619
He says, "Is this some kind of cult?"
519
00:24:12.619 --> 00:24:14.663
[gulls screeching]
520
00:24:19.626 --> 00:24:22.671
AUGUST URBISH: I had been
to a couple of the summer camps,
521
00:24:22.671 --> 00:24:25.966
and I saw how much fun
everybody was having
522
00:24:25.966 --> 00:24:28.051
within the We community.
523
00:24:28.051 --> 00:24:31.763
So then a friend of mine
who worked for WeWork
524
00:24:31.763 --> 00:24:34.141
called me up and said, "Look...
525
00:24:34.141 --> 00:24:35.851
"WeWork is doing this new thing.
526
00:24:35.851 --> 00:24:38.270
"I can't tell you
anything about it right now.
527
00:24:38.270 --> 00:24:43.525
"Um, it's going to be
for the coolest people in New York,
528
00:24:43.525 --> 00:24:46.320
"and I promise you are going
to want to be a part of it.
529
00:24:46.320 --> 00:24:50.407
Are you willing to break your lease
to do this new WeWork venture?"
530
00:24:50.407 --> 00:24:53.118
Like... "Can I have a couple days?"
531
00:24:53.118 --> 00:24:55.787
And she said, "No, you can't
have a couple days.
532
00:24:55.787 --> 00:24:58.874
I need to know right now, are you
willing to break your lease for this?"
533
00:24:58.874 --> 00:25:01.668
Uh, and I said, "I guess...
534
00:25:01.668 --> 00:25:02.961
Yeah."
535
00:25:02.961 --> 00:25:05.464
Reluctantly.
I said, "Yeah, I will do it."
536
00:25:07.382 --> 00:25:11.011
So a couple of weeks later,
I got this invitation
537
00:25:11.011 --> 00:25:15.307
for what looked like Eyes Wide Shut ,
that Tom Cruise movie.
538
00:25:16.183 --> 00:25:18.560
Like, non-informational whatsoever.
539
00:25:18.560 --> 00:25:21.730
A time, a place, a date,
and that's it, you know.
540
00:25:21.730 --> 00:25:25.192
"I'll see you there," basically.
So I was like, "Jesus, okay."
541
00:25:25.192 --> 00:25:29.029
So I show up and Adam Neumann
was there at this initial thing,
542
00:25:29.029 --> 00:25:31.823
and there was maybe
500 people in this room,
543
00:25:31.823 --> 00:25:35.202
and they revealed what was going on.
544
00:25:35.202 --> 00:25:38.622
WeWork is starting WeLive,
545
00:25:38.622 --> 00:25:43.836
that is all about this new way of living.
546
00:25:43.836 --> 00:25:49.049
And we had a very distinct opportunity
to be the first people in there.
547
00:25:50.217 --> 00:25:54.513
I believed every word that
came out of Adam's mouth.
548
00:25:54.513 --> 00:25:59.142
- The success of this will be
if you guys feel like this is your home.
549
00:25:59.142 --> 00:26:01.562
AUGUST:
He seemed like he was talking
550
00:26:01.562 --> 00:26:03.939
like a man on a mission.
551
00:26:03.939 --> 00:26:05.357
So I signed the thing
552
00:26:05.357 --> 00:26:08.318
and they got back to me
and asked me to write
553
00:26:08.318 --> 00:26:13.323
a very sort of generic
"why you should live here."
554
00:26:13.323 --> 00:26:14.616
"Why should we pick you?"
555
00:26:14.616 --> 00:26:18.662
Like I didn't know anything about WeLive,
556
00:26:18.662 --> 00:26:23.417
so I was essentially writing a book report
for a book that I hadn't read.
557
00:26:23.417 --> 00:26:25.335
It's one of those things
where you're like,
558
00:26:25.335 --> 00:26:27.754
all I have to say is, "Wow!"
559
00:26:27.754 --> 00:26:33.218
So, you know, I wrote
way too long of an essay than I needed to.
560
00:26:33.218 --> 00:26:38.223
And, uh, shortly after that,
I was... accepted.
561
00:26:40.309 --> 00:26:43.729
This was supposed to be a space
where it's move-in ready.
562
00:26:43.729 --> 00:26:45.689
You don't need anything.
563
00:26:45.689 --> 00:26:49.109
So I packed a bag, just one big bag,
564
00:26:49.109 --> 00:26:52.738
like a drifter, and walked into the space.
565
00:26:53.697 --> 00:26:56.408
And it was...
566
00:26:57.492 --> 00:26:59.411
stunning, it was beautiful.
567
00:26:59.411 --> 00:27:02.247
You know, you walked in
and everything was perfect.
568
00:27:03.707 --> 00:27:06.793
QUINTON KERNS:
I was the first designer at WeLive.
569
00:27:07.544 --> 00:27:08.712
I moved into WeLive,
570
00:27:08.712 --> 00:27:11.548
because I was one of the first
members to be a beta tester.
571
00:27:11.548 --> 00:27:14.676
And that meant that,
for the first six months,
572
00:27:14.676 --> 00:27:17.346
there was a drastically reduced price.
573
00:27:17.346 --> 00:27:20.516
I had designed the space
with my colleagues,
574
00:27:20.516 --> 00:27:22.392
and I couldn't pass up the opportunity,
575
00:27:22.392 --> 00:27:24.686
and it was really cool
because you were living
576
00:27:24.686 --> 00:27:26.939
in this brand-new living situation.
577
00:27:28.774 --> 00:27:31.026
AUGUST: The Murphy bed
was built into the couch.
578
00:27:31.026 --> 00:27:33.195
There was a little desk
tucked into a corner
579
00:27:33.195 --> 00:27:35.280
that you could put your computer on.
580
00:27:35.280 --> 00:27:38.617
The whole thing may
have been 200 square feet.
581
00:27:38.617 --> 00:27:41.161
Might have been 200 square feet.
Like on a good day.
582
00:27:42.287 --> 00:27:44.831
But it was all about community.
583
00:27:44.831 --> 00:27:50.838
I think the initial group of people
definitely fit a certain criteria.
584
00:27:50.838 --> 00:27:55.217
I mean, beyond being young
with no actual responsibilities.
585
00:27:55.717 --> 00:27:58.053
- A lot of single people.
Everybody was single.
586
00:27:58.053 --> 00:28:00.681
We actually had a saying that
everything had to be designed
587
00:28:00.681 --> 00:28:02.099
to hold the weight of two people.
588
00:28:02.099 --> 00:28:04.726
AUGUST: Guess what all
those people had in common
589
00:28:04.726 --> 00:28:09.857
was the ability to pause their
personal lives to try out this new thing.
590
00:28:09.857 --> 00:28:13.443
QUINTON: They appealed to the same
WeWork generation of millennials.
591
00:28:13.443 --> 00:28:16.488
A lot of people worked at WeWork
who lived at WeLive at the time.
592
00:28:16.488 --> 00:28:21.201
AUGUST: A very, very small
percentage of us were outsiders,
593
00:28:21.201 --> 00:28:22.536
I guess you could say.
594
00:28:23.537 --> 00:28:29.084
The first six months, it was weird
if someone left the building.
595
00:28:29.084 --> 00:28:32.462
If someone were like, "Hey, I'm going
to a friend's birthday party,"
596
00:28:32.462 --> 00:28:34.715
and the very common next question is,
597
00:28:34.715 --> 00:28:36.216
"Oh, which floor is it on?"
598
00:28:36.216 --> 00:28:39.094
QUINTON: That's one of
the benefits of co-living is,
599
00:28:39.094 --> 00:28:41.889
you move in,
you get friends automatically,
you spend time with them.
600
00:28:41.889 --> 00:28:44.933
So it becomes your whole social circle.
601
00:28:44.933 --> 00:28:47.686
AUGUST: It all felt like
everybody was really dedicated
602
00:28:47.686 --> 00:28:49.771
to making this idea work,
603
00:28:49.771 --> 00:28:52.941
this sort of utopian...
604
00:28:52.941 --> 00:28:56.320
society of living situations,
605
00:28:56.320 --> 00:28:59.698
without really thinking
606
00:28:59.698 --> 00:29:03.869
of the consequences of that.
607
00:29:03.869 --> 00:29:06.246
[thunder crashing]
608
00:29:09.541 --> 00:29:12.586
♪ ethereal choral music playing ♪
609
00:29:14.296 --> 00:29:15.964
[hooves galloping]
610
00:29:17.382 --> 00:29:20.802
RANDALL:
WeWork wanted to become a unicorn.
611
00:29:22.596 --> 00:29:27.017
A unicorn is a company
valued at $1 billion.
612
00:29:30.354 --> 00:29:32.981
That one beautiful unicorn
613
00:29:32.981 --> 00:29:36.235
that can return
a hundred times your investment,
614
00:29:36.235 --> 00:29:39.738
that's how you're gonna make
a lot of money as a venture capitalist.
615
00:29:40.364 --> 00:29:43.325
So the entire world
of venture capital basically
616
00:29:43.325 --> 00:29:44.368
is on a unicorn hunt.
617
00:29:46.328 --> 00:29:48.413
Finding the next Uber,
618
00:29:48.413 --> 00:29:50.707
finding the next Facebook,
finding the next Google,
619
00:29:50.707 --> 00:29:54.086
that's going to make you a billionaire
620
00:29:54.086 --> 00:29:56.296
just by picking and betting
on the right horse,
621
00:29:56.296 --> 00:29:58.173
or in this case, the right unicorn.
622
00:30:01.176 --> 00:30:04.763
When WeWork was in its major
New York growth period,
623
00:30:04.763 --> 00:30:07.516
there were a lot of big players
who saw the potential.
624
00:30:07.516 --> 00:30:09.935
Venture capital firms saw this
625
00:30:09.935 --> 00:30:11.937
as a really great growth play
but they had to move fast.
626
00:30:11.937 --> 00:30:14.106
- I liked him immediately.
627
00:30:14.106 --> 00:30:16.525
Adam's just a charming, charismatic person
628
00:30:16.525 --> 00:30:18.777
who is very persuasive to a lot of people.
629
00:30:19.695 --> 00:30:21.280
STEVE BERTONI:
In many ways for investors,
630
00:30:21.280 --> 00:30:23.031
WeWork was the future of work.
631
00:30:23.031 --> 00:30:26.285
It became this poster child
for this growing trend
632
00:30:26.285 --> 00:30:30.831
of flexible offices,
um, kind of digital nomads.
633
00:30:30.831 --> 00:30:33.333
Another thing that drove
these investors was FOMO,
634
00:30:33.333 --> 00:30:34.626
fear of missing out.
635
00:30:34.626 --> 00:30:37.838
They had seen what venture
capital firms had reaped
636
00:30:37.838 --> 00:30:40.465
with all these startups,
and they wanted to get in the action.
637
00:30:40.465 --> 00:30:43.468
For many people,
WeWork was that next big thing.
638
00:30:43.468 --> 00:30:47.514
ALEX: WeWork was basically
getting interest from seed investors
639
00:30:47.514 --> 00:30:49.516
who were thinking,
"Oh, this is a small company.
640
00:30:49.516 --> 00:30:52.144
I'm gonna get in on the ground
with a small check."
641
00:30:52.144 --> 00:30:56.023
And yet they had quietly already reached
a billion-dollar valuation,
642
00:30:56.023 --> 00:31:00.027
i.e., one of New York's
very few tech unicorns,
643
00:31:00.027 --> 00:31:02.613
and yet people didn't know this
because they hadn't announced it.
644
00:31:02.613 --> 00:31:04.531
I'm like, wait a second.
645
00:31:04.531 --> 00:31:06.867
There's a billion-dollar
startup in New York
646
00:31:06.867 --> 00:31:09.578
that everybody wants to be a part of
647
00:31:09.578 --> 00:31:11.580
and nobody has a sense
of how big it is yet.
648
00:31:11.580 --> 00:31:14.374
And so that's when I started
spending a lot of time with Adam,
649
00:31:14.374 --> 00:31:16.585
to try to understand the company.
650
00:31:18.754 --> 00:31:20.088
[cash register dings]
651
00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:27.513
- New York real estate is
one of the most interesting markets
652
00:31:27.513 --> 00:31:29.181
of any kind in the world,
653
00:31:29.181 --> 00:31:32.809
because you have to go back to the days
of John Jacob Astor,
654
00:31:32.809 --> 00:31:37.606
the famous saying, "Nobody ever got poor
with New York City real estate."
655
00:31:37.606 --> 00:31:39.608
But there's a caveat to that,
656
00:31:39.608 --> 00:31:41.693
which is you have to have
incredibly sharp elbows
657
00:31:41.693 --> 00:31:43.278
and you have to play for keeps.
658
00:31:44.780 --> 00:31:47.074
LISA:
It is male-dominated.
659
00:31:47.074 --> 00:31:49.243
Businesses, portfolios.
660
00:31:49.243 --> 00:31:52.621
A lot of familial wealth in the city.
661
00:31:52.621 --> 00:31:56.583
It is a shark-eat-shark industry.
662
00:31:56.583 --> 00:31:58.418
♪ Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" playing ♪
663
00:31:58.418 --> 00:32:01.964
RANDALL: The Roses and the LeFraks
and the Kushners and even the Trumps.
664
00:32:01.964 --> 00:32:05.092
It's not really about
entrepreneurs per se,
665
00:32:05.092 --> 00:32:07.302
but it's about families,
it's about dynasties.
666
00:32:07.302 --> 00:32:10.472
It's generally the kind of
business that once you're in
667
00:32:10.472 --> 00:32:13.433
and you establish a beachhead,
uh, you're in.
668
00:32:13.433 --> 00:32:16.270
- So it's almost like you're
a real estate company wrapped
669
00:32:16.270 --> 00:32:19.189
in this sort of, in this tech sheen.
670
00:32:19.189 --> 00:32:21.108
- We're definitely not
a real estate company.
671
00:32:21.108 --> 00:32:23.777
We are a community of creators.
672
00:32:23.777 --> 00:32:26.572
We create environment for
entrepreneurs and freelancers.
673
00:32:26.572 --> 00:32:30.576
We leverage technology to connect people.
And it's a new way of working.
674
00:32:30.576 --> 00:32:32.911
And just like Uber is
the sharing economy for cars
675
00:32:32.911 --> 00:32:34.413
and Citi Bike for bicycle...
HOST: Right.
676
00:32:34.413 --> 00:32:36.999
...we're the sharing economy for space.
677
00:32:36.999 --> 00:32:38.667
♪ "Four Seasons" continues ♪
678
00:32:38.667 --> 00:32:40.752
HOST:
Do you buy the properties?
679
00:32:40.752 --> 00:32:42.546
ADAM: So we definitely
do not buy the property.
680
00:32:42.546 --> 00:32:44.965
That again would make us
a real estate company.
HOST: Exactly.
681
00:32:44.965 --> 00:32:47.259
ADAM: We create
long-term leases with landlords,
682
00:32:47.259 --> 00:32:50.554
and then we take the space and we
break it up and we create the community
683
00:32:50.554 --> 00:32:53.182
and the connections that happen
between our members.
684
00:32:53.182 --> 00:32:54.975
MORT ZUCKERMAN:
I saw what he was doing.
685
00:32:54.975 --> 00:32:57.936
I made a judgment as to this man's
leadership capabilities,
686
00:32:57.936 --> 00:32:59.897
which are truly extraordinary, okay?
687
00:32:59.897 --> 00:33:04.151
It's phenomenal, and it's a great concept,
and it's continuing to explode.
688
00:33:04.151 --> 00:33:07.821
- Taking these distressed buildings
and flipping them in a new way,
689
00:33:07.821 --> 00:33:10.240
that was an insight that no one else had.
690
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.035
And, you know, they're validated
by the smartest people in real estate
691
00:33:13.035 --> 00:33:15.412
being like, "Wow!
That was a really interesting idea.
692
00:33:15.412 --> 00:33:18.207
It may be really risky,
but it's an interesting idea."
693
00:33:21.418 --> 00:33:24.004
Pretty quickly, the Kushner family,
694
00:33:24.004 --> 00:33:27.549
the Rudin family, and Boston Properties
695
00:33:27.549 --> 00:33:30.385
were all onboard with this idea.
696
00:33:30.385 --> 00:33:34.264
It was validating to the establishment
697
00:33:34.264 --> 00:33:37.267
and it was also validating to Wall Street.
698
00:33:37.267 --> 00:33:41.563
You know, JP Morgan leads
a large investment in WeWork.
699
00:33:41.563 --> 00:33:44.983
- Adam loved to namedrop to people.
700
00:33:44.983 --> 00:33:48.153
And, I mean, Jamie Dimon is the world's...
701
00:33:48.153 --> 00:33:50.155
top banker,
702
00:33:50.155 --> 00:33:53.534
and he would tell people
he was his personal banker.
703
00:33:56.995 --> 00:33:59.498
RANDALL:
They started to consume everything.
704
00:33:59.498 --> 00:34:00.832
They were renting
as many office spaces
705
00:34:00.832 --> 00:34:02.334
in as many
neighborhoods as possible.
706
00:34:02.334 --> 00:34:04.294
It became a literal land grab.
707
00:34:06.213 --> 00:34:08.715
All of a sudden, WeWork became
708
00:34:08.715 --> 00:34:12.511
the largest lessee of office space
in all of New York City.
709
00:34:12.511 --> 00:34:15.138
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
710
00:34:25.232 --> 00:34:27.192
MAN:
Good afternoon, all of you.
711
00:34:27.192 --> 00:34:30.487
When we sat down
at the beginning of this year
712
00:34:30.487 --> 00:34:32.656
to decide the agenda,
713
00:34:32.656 --> 00:34:34.867
the first name we put
on the list and circled
714
00:34:34.867 --> 00:34:37.828
was Adam Neumann of WeWork,
and you're about to see why.
715
00:34:37.828 --> 00:34:41.832
But by the way, having lunch next to Adam
716
00:34:41.832 --> 00:34:43.542
and having him coach me
717
00:34:43.542 --> 00:34:46.044
on how we did the seating
all wrong here was...
718
00:34:46.044 --> 00:34:49.131
I mean, three or four times,
he was very--
719
00:34:49.131 --> 00:34:52.676
- But it bothers me because the center
of energy in this room is right here
720
00:34:52.676 --> 00:34:55.053
and no one's sitting there,
and it's right in front of us.
721
00:34:55.053 --> 00:34:57.848
And it's these little details
that we pay attention to,
722
00:34:57.848 --> 00:34:59.933
and this is why, this is how
you bring people together,
723
00:34:59.933 --> 00:35:02.728
and we have people sitting there
facing the wrong direction,
724
00:35:02.728 --> 00:35:04.855
and there's enough room
for all of us to get closer.
725
00:35:04.855 --> 00:35:09.651
- The last...
[laughter and applause]
726
00:35:09.651 --> 00:35:12.821
- I remember in the very beginning
walking into the office
727
00:35:12.821 --> 00:35:15.699
and seeing Rebekah
and looking at her and saying,
728
00:35:15.699 --> 00:35:18.493
"Your husband has an incredible vision."
729
00:35:18.493 --> 00:35:21.830
And she said,
"I know. It's why I married him."
730
00:35:21.830 --> 00:35:24.625
♪
731
00:35:27.503 --> 00:35:28.629
- Are you okay?
732
00:35:31.173 --> 00:35:32.591
[exhales sharply]
733
00:35:32.591 --> 00:35:34.426
Oh, fuck, are you on drugs?
734
00:35:34.426 --> 00:35:35.677
- No.
- Are you?
735
00:35:35.677 --> 00:35:37.763
- No!
- What are you on right now?
736
00:35:37.763 --> 00:35:39.681
- I'm not on anything, Robin.
737
00:35:39.681 --> 00:35:42.100
[pills rattling]
Fuck.
738
00:35:42.100 --> 00:35:44.645
LISA:
Rebekah was Adam's wife,
739
00:35:44.645 --> 00:35:49.566
and she had an office with us
because she was a filmmaker, an actress.
740
00:35:49.566 --> 00:35:51.777
[sobbing]
741
00:35:51.777 --> 00:35:56.907
ALEX: She is, uh,
a cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow.
742
00:35:56.907 --> 00:35:58.992
You can't go far hearing about Rebekah
743
00:35:58.992 --> 00:36:01.745
or talking to Rebekah
without that kind of coming up.
744
00:36:01.745 --> 00:36:05.123
LISA: I went to a screening
of a film that she created.
745
00:36:05.123 --> 00:36:06.792
We all went to the screening.
746
00:36:07.251 --> 00:36:09.211
- This is your entire life story?
747
00:36:09.211 --> 00:36:12.172
- That is my entire story.
- No, it isn't.
748
00:36:14.341 --> 00:36:16.176
- It was interesting.
749
00:36:16.176 --> 00:36:19.429
ALEX: She's around from
the beginning of WeWork,
750
00:36:19.429 --> 00:36:21.348
helping in unofficial ways.
751
00:36:21.348 --> 00:36:23.767
ADAM:
I meet my wife, I was 28.
752
00:36:23.767 --> 00:36:26.103
This was 10 years ago,
and she looks at me
753
00:36:26.103 --> 00:36:28.480
and she goes,
literally within five minutes,
754
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:32.484
"You have a lot of potential,
but right now you're full of shit."
755
00:36:32.484 --> 00:36:33.819
[audience laughs]
756
00:36:33.819 --> 00:36:36.071
"You have potential,
but you're full of shit."
757
00:36:36.071 --> 00:36:38.490
"You, my friend, are full of shit."
758
00:36:38.490 --> 00:36:41.451
"You have a lot of potential,
but you're full of shit."
759
00:36:41.451 --> 00:36:42.995
[audience laughs]
760
00:36:42.995 --> 00:36:44.663
She said, "Find your passion.
761
00:36:44.663 --> 00:36:46.790
"Do something that
actually changes the world.
762
00:36:46.790 --> 00:36:48.834
"Bring those two together, I promise you,
763
00:36:48.834 --> 00:36:50.794
you'll have the best business
you ever imagined."
764
00:36:50.794 --> 00:36:53.755
I have to say I did all of that and,
Rebekah, I just want to say thank you.
765
00:36:53.755 --> 00:36:55.215
- Adam, my love.
- I'd be nothing without you.
766
00:36:55.215 --> 00:36:57.009
HOST: Well put.
- Thank you.
767
00:36:57.467 --> 00:36:59.511
ALEX:
I would go to interview Adam.
768
00:36:59.511 --> 00:37:02.890
Rebekah was there
for a lot of the interviews.
769
00:37:02.890 --> 00:37:04.641
REBEKAH:
Sweetie, can I just say something?
770
00:37:04.641 --> 00:37:07.186
How do I pause this? You don't need this.
771
00:37:07.186 --> 00:37:11.732
- She was, um, grilling me
about my intentions with the story.
772
00:37:11.732 --> 00:37:14.234
- Really by putting 400,000
square feet of room--
773
00:37:14.234 --> 00:37:17.154
REBEKAH: You're saying WeWork is
gonna make the neighborhood cool?
774
00:37:17.154 --> 00:37:19.281
- It's gonna make it work.
775
00:37:19.281 --> 00:37:21.366
It's gonna make the neighborhood, period.
776
00:37:21.366 --> 00:37:25.454
WeWork is gonna make the Lower East Side
the new Silicon Valley.
777
00:37:25.454 --> 00:37:28.540
ALEX:
Clearly she had a lot of authority,
778
00:37:28.540 --> 00:37:32.336
but she was not considered
at the time a co-founder.
779
00:37:32.336 --> 00:37:35.589
It's pretty clear that Rebekah's
trying to sort of shape Adam,
780
00:37:35.589 --> 00:37:39.468
or help him become this world leader type
781
00:37:39.468 --> 00:37:42.346
that, you know, he aspires
to be and that she likes.
782
00:37:45.098 --> 00:37:48.644
MEGAN: Working at WeWork,
we all felt like, "Oh, wow.
783
00:37:48.644 --> 00:37:52.147
"This is such a special place
to be at a special time,
784
00:37:52.147 --> 00:37:55.943
because as it grows, they're gonna need,
they're gonna need us."
785
00:38:00.322 --> 00:38:03.116
HOST:
You're a hard-driving CEO.
786
00:38:03.116 --> 00:38:08.205
We've seen with other hard-driving CEOs
and companies with a lot of hours
787
00:38:08.205 --> 00:38:10.749
that, that the culture can crumble.
788
00:38:10.749 --> 00:38:13.627
I was watching a video of yours where
789
00:38:13.627 --> 00:38:15.212
the typical Monday was described
790
00:38:15.212 --> 00:38:18.090
as arriving at 7 a. m.
and going home at 3 a. m.
791
00:38:18.090 --> 00:38:20.092
- This Monday,
I finished at 2 a. m., not at 3.
792
00:38:20.092 --> 00:38:23.345
[host laughs]
It was a good, it was a good Monday.
793
00:38:23.345 --> 00:38:26.932
- I thought I was going to work at WeWork
for the rest of my life.
794
00:38:26.932 --> 00:38:29.601
I really thought that this
was my lifetime career
795
00:38:29.601 --> 00:38:31.854
and I would just grow with the company.
796
00:38:31.854 --> 00:38:35.440
- If you build an amazing culture,
one that people can give you feedback,
797
00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:38.068
one that works hard
but also has a great time,
798
00:38:38.068 --> 00:38:40.320
then you will deal with
the tough times when they come.
799
00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:43.699
And that's, that's what's really
important, and if you do it right--
800
00:38:43.699 --> 00:38:46.243
By the way, working hard is fulfilling.
801
00:38:46.243 --> 00:38:48.495
LISA:
We would hustle so hard.
802
00:38:48.495 --> 00:38:50.747
And though we would hit the mark,
803
00:38:50.747 --> 00:38:55.210
there was always a way
that Adam grew the vision,
804
00:38:55.210 --> 00:38:59.423
so that everyone could see that we could
do more, hustle harder, hustle faster.
805
00:39:00.132 --> 00:39:02.759
MEGAN: When somebody tells you
they're changing the world
806
00:39:02.759 --> 00:39:06.180
and you are helping them do that,
it feels special.
807
00:39:06.180 --> 00:39:08.765
it feels really special.
808
00:39:08.765 --> 00:39:12.060
Everybody was just on it,
ready to be a part of this company,
809
00:39:12.060 --> 00:39:15.105
to be part of WeWork,
to be a part of the dream.
810
00:39:16.148 --> 00:39:18.692
At that time,
we were also being told like...
811
00:39:20.235 --> 00:39:21.820
Adam told me I was gonna be a millionaire.
812
00:39:23.530 --> 00:39:26.909
DON: Most people agreed
to salaries less than
813
00:39:26.909 --> 00:39:30.829
they would make at somewhere else
in a regular field or whatnot,
814
00:39:30.829 --> 00:39:35.334
because you were given a salary
and a certain value of stock options.
815
00:39:35.334 --> 00:39:39.838
- When your business has a mission,
and that mission is world changing,
816
00:39:39.838 --> 00:39:43.509
and people can buy into the mission,
then they're gonna come in.
817
00:39:43.509 --> 00:39:45.719
Then they need the culture
that they're going to enjoy.
818
00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:48.972
To create that culture,
you got to put employees first.
819
00:39:48.972 --> 00:39:51.099
We've given every one
of our employees equity,
820
00:39:51.099 --> 00:39:54.269
so everyone is a partner in this business,
from the porter that cleans
821
00:39:54.269 --> 00:39:55.604
to the community manager,
822
00:39:55.604 --> 00:39:58.482
to the CFO and COO of the company.
823
00:39:58.482 --> 00:39:59.900
Everyone is a partner.
824
00:39:59.900 --> 00:40:01.860
[chanting "WeWork!"]
825
00:40:01.860 --> 00:40:04.613
DON: So the idea was, people get
super rich off of stock options, right?
826
00:40:04.613 --> 00:40:06.698
You hear about the guy
who went to work at Amazon.
827
00:40:06.698 --> 00:40:08.367
He worked in the warehouse.
828
00:40:08.367 --> 00:40:11.453
He was like the 40th person in.
He became a multi-gazillionaire.
829
00:40:11.453 --> 00:40:13.455
So that's what was being sold.
830
00:40:13.455 --> 00:40:15.791
But the way the stock options worked
831
00:40:15.791 --> 00:40:18.585
was that's not really
like what would happen.
832
00:40:18.585 --> 00:40:21.547
MARGARITA KELRIKH:
"Equity" was kind of a buzzword.
833
00:40:21.547 --> 00:40:24.258
Adam would talk about it all the time.
834
00:40:24.258 --> 00:40:27.177
"You all have equity in the company."
835
00:40:27.177 --> 00:40:29.221
Which I don't think is quite true.
836
00:40:29.221 --> 00:40:32.558
If you have stock options, you don't
actually own equity in the company.
837
00:40:32.558 --> 00:40:36.770
You own a security that gives you
an option to buy equity in the company.
838
00:40:37.646 --> 00:40:39.398
I would see that people
didn't understand
839
00:40:39.398 --> 00:40:41.650
about that you're taking in
what you're getting.
840
00:40:41.650 --> 00:40:43.569
It's so exciting...
841
00:40:44.862 --> 00:40:47.823
to feel like you own
something that is so famous
842
00:40:47.823 --> 00:40:50.033
and so talked about.
843
00:40:50.033 --> 00:40:52.286
So that they can say like,
"Oh, I have equity."
844
00:40:52.286 --> 00:40:56.456
But if somebody actually did the math,
maybe their equity's worth like $2,000.
845
00:40:56.456 --> 00:41:01.003
You might think that the possibility
of getting a million-dollar payout
846
00:41:01.003 --> 00:41:05.007
is far higher than it
actually is in reality.
847
00:41:05.007 --> 00:41:07.843
[audience murmuring]
848
00:41:07.843 --> 00:41:09.469
ADAM:
There's a lot of room.
849
00:41:09.469 --> 00:41:12.723
You can sit next to the gong.
Don't be shy.
850
00:41:12.723 --> 00:41:14.600
JOANNA STRANGE:
WeWork onboarding meetings
851
00:41:14.600 --> 00:41:16.393
were on Monday mornings.
852
00:41:16.393 --> 00:41:19.730
And everybody would come in
and then a presentation would begin.
853
00:41:19.730 --> 00:41:22.900
And the presentation
was the mythology of WeWork.
854
00:41:22.900 --> 00:41:27.613
♪ peaceful symphonic music playing ♪
855
00:41:27.613 --> 00:41:30.908
Like Adam walking
through a kibbutz in Israel.
856
00:41:30.908 --> 00:41:33.619
Like his hands grazing over lavender,
857
00:41:33.619 --> 00:41:36.496
as he thinks to himself with a narration
858
00:41:36.496 --> 00:41:41.919
about community and support
and loving one another.
859
00:41:41.919 --> 00:41:45.672
Then we get Miguel like walking through
his compound in Oregon.
860
00:41:45.672 --> 00:41:48.300
They didn't do that; that's what
they should have done.
They should have hired me for that.
861
00:41:48.300 --> 00:41:50.594
But anyway, um, you know, kind of this...
862
00:41:50.594 --> 00:41:53.222
But it's definitely like
a couple of slides about WeWork
863
00:41:53.222 --> 00:41:57.559
and then lots of slides
about every single person at the C level.
864
00:41:57.559 --> 00:42:00.145
[cheering]
865
00:42:00.145 --> 00:42:02.648
DON: At some point, they changed
the organizational structure
866
00:42:02.648 --> 00:42:06.235
to have like mini CEOs
in different regions.
867
00:42:06.235 --> 00:42:09.029
And they call them C-We-Os.
868
00:42:09.029 --> 00:42:10.697
So... [laughing]
869
00:42:10.697 --> 00:42:12.574
I'm not kidding, you know,
and I was like, "Look
870
00:42:12.574 --> 00:42:15.077
"I'm not referring to anybody
as a C-We-O
871
00:42:15.077 --> 00:42:16.453
for my entire life."
872
00:42:20.791 --> 00:42:23.043
And they made some weird videos.
873
00:42:23.043 --> 00:42:25.254
JOANNA:
Everything about the videos
874
00:42:25.254 --> 00:42:27.256
was propaganda.
875
00:42:27.256 --> 00:42:29.132
Everything about it was propaganda.
876
00:42:29.132 --> 00:42:32.845
DON: The tone-deafness and lack
of awareness to show these videos,
877
00:42:32.845 --> 00:42:34.471
it was incredible.
878
00:42:34.471 --> 00:42:37.266
Basically, you had the CEO,
you had all the C-We-Os,
879
00:42:37.266 --> 00:42:41.144
and you really didn't see
any minorities up in the higher echelons.
880
00:42:41.144 --> 00:42:44.690
There wasn't proper diversity
at WeWork, period, hard stop.
881
00:42:44.690 --> 00:42:46.108
JOANNA:
The C-We-Os are people
882
00:42:46.108 --> 00:42:48.735
who just want to talk
about their awesomeness.
883
00:42:48.735 --> 00:42:51.780
They have that very much
in common with Adam.
884
00:42:51.780 --> 00:42:54.908
It was almost like you needed
to know who was at the top
885
00:42:54.908 --> 00:42:56.952
so when they came past,
you could bow down to them.
886
00:42:59.121 --> 00:43:01.248
The events themselves
really were meant
887
00:43:01.248 --> 00:43:05.502
to kind of like engender
a loyalty to WeWork.
888
00:43:05.502 --> 00:43:09.131
DON: There would be like
50 to 70 people starting every Monday,
889
00:43:09.131 --> 00:43:11.717
and you'd be sitting in your office,
and all of a sudden
890
00:43:11.717 --> 00:43:13.177
you hear chanting
throughout the entire building.
891
00:43:13.177 --> 00:43:15.179
[crowd chanting "WeWork!"]
892
00:43:15.179 --> 00:43:17.514
JOANNA:
While we're all trying to do our work.
893
00:43:17.514 --> 00:43:20.726
It's deafening.
The music and everybody screaming.
894
00:43:20.726 --> 00:43:22.686
[crowd screaming, clapping]
895
00:43:22.686 --> 00:43:26.398
They were willing to spend any amount
of money to make themselves feel good
896
00:43:26.398 --> 00:43:28.984
and look good to their employees.
897
00:43:28.984 --> 00:43:32.321
[crowd cheering]
898
00:43:35.324 --> 00:43:36.742
[cash register dings]
899
00:43:41.496 --> 00:43:46.376
DON: The offices were,
to put it mildly, they were cramped.
900
00:43:46.376 --> 00:43:49.588
The mantra we got from on top,
and I specifically remember
901
00:43:49.588 --> 00:43:52.466
an all-company meeting
where we were kind of told
902
00:43:52.466 --> 00:43:56.178
that we would be quadrupling up,
quintupling up, sixing up.
903
00:43:56.178 --> 00:43:58.263
"You don't need the corner office anymore.
904
00:43:58.263 --> 00:44:00.098
"You don't need
the house on the hill anymore.
905
00:44:00.098 --> 00:44:03.101
It's all about energy, togetherness,
working with your fellow humans."
906
00:44:03.101 --> 00:44:06.271
And then meanwhile, you know,
I slide by Adam's office
907
00:44:06.271 --> 00:44:08.524
and he's got a veritable palace in there.
908
00:44:11.568 --> 00:44:13.320
There's a little bit
of hypocrisy to all this.
909
00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:15.113
You know, I remember
at some old company speech,
910
00:44:15.113 --> 00:44:18.575
it was about, you know, taking
some small steps to make sure
911
00:44:18.575 --> 00:44:23.247
that we saved a million dollars
on the operating budget every year.
912
00:44:23.247 --> 00:44:27.209
And then Adam just bought
a $60 million private jet, right?
913
00:44:27.209 --> 00:44:30.087
So, you know, you hear these
and you're kind of wondering like,
914
00:44:30.087 --> 00:44:33.549
what is the message that's being told
and how are people really living?
915
00:44:37.803 --> 00:44:40.264
JOANNA:
There was definitely a lot of chaos
916
00:44:40.264 --> 00:44:43.892
and lack of organization at WeWork.
917
00:44:44.935 --> 00:44:48.438
Multiple times,
I end up doing other people's jobs.
918
00:44:48.438 --> 00:44:50.232
Because they're not working fast enough.
919
00:44:50.732 --> 00:44:52.818
So then eventually my supervisor
920
00:44:52.818 --> 00:44:55.612
writes his password on a Post-It
and he hands it to me.
921
00:44:55.612 --> 00:44:57.906
I used his log-in for everything.
922
00:44:57.906 --> 00:45:00.951
I was logging in and out so often
923
00:45:00.951 --> 00:45:04.454
that more than once,
I would click on his Gmail icon
924
00:45:04.454 --> 00:45:06.915
and end up opening his email,
only to realize it's his email
925
00:45:06.915 --> 00:45:11.086
and then have to log back out
of everything and have to log back in.
926
00:45:11.086 --> 00:45:13.797
And, you know, one day
927
00:45:13.797 --> 00:45:15.841
a title of an email caught my eye.
928
00:45:15.841 --> 00:45:19.469
And then sort of the rest, as they say,
is history.
929
00:45:19.928 --> 00:45:22.723
[clicks]
So I click on it, of course,
930
00:45:22.723 --> 00:45:25.392
and it's a list of people
that he's gonna fire.
931
00:45:25.392 --> 00:45:26.685
And I'm on the list.
932
00:45:26.685 --> 00:45:30.480
But when you read further down in it,
933
00:45:30.480 --> 00:45:34.568
you realize that it's a mandate
to cut 7% of their employees.
934
00:45:34.568 --> 00:45:38.572
Because WeWork was just
flushing cash down the toilet.
935
00:45:38.572 --> 00:45:43.368
Just hemorrhaging, hemorrhaging money,
so we had to cut jobs.
936
00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:45.662
He wrote something like,
937
00:45:45.662 --> 00:45:49.082
"Ha! Bitches, I cut more
than 7% of my team,"
938
00:45:49.082 --> 00:45:51.168
'cause everybody was supposed to cut 7%.
939
00:45:51.168 --> 00:45:52.794
And I was like, "What?"
940
00:45:54.880 --> 00:45:57.049
After I saw that email, I thought,
941
00:45:57.049 --> 00:46:00.010
well, he gave me his password,
and so I went digging
942
00:46:00.010 --> 00:46:01.512
because I thought, okay,
943
00:46:01.512 --> 00:46:03.180
I know we're running out of money.
944
00:46:03.180 --> 00:46:05.265
Now they're laying people off.
What's going wrong?
945
00:46:08.852 --> 00:46:13.440
When I go back in,
one of the documents that I find,
946
00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:15.734
it was obviously, the information
was not meant to be disseminated,
947
00:46:15.734 --> 00:46:17.569
but it showed that
948
00:46:17.569 --> 00:46:21.323
we had to adjust our revenue down
949
00:46:21.323 --> 00:46:24.368
by something like 80%.
950
00:46:25.035 --> 00:46:26.787
I didn't know if they were
not gonna tell investors.
951
00:46:26.787 --> 00:46:30.499
They certainly were lying to every time
they put out something in the media.
952
00:46:30.499 --> 00:46:32.042
- Are you actually turning a profit
in the business?
953
00:46:32.042 --> 00:46:33.669
ADAM:
We are definitely turning a profit.
954
00:46:33.669 --> 00:46:36.630
I'm bored of the businesses
that don't turn a profit.
I don't believe in them.
955
00:46:36.630 --> 00:46:38.590
I need a cash flow-positive business.
956
00:46:38.590 --> 00:46:41.468
JOANNA:
And so I thought, well, I'll just give it
957
00:46:41.468 --> 00:46:43.846
to somebody in the media
and then it will go to the right place
958
00:46:43.846 --> 00:46:46.265
and then they will be
taken to task for it.
959
00:46:49.184 --> 00:46:51.478
ALEX: When I went to try
to report on this leak,
960
00:46:51.478 --> 00:46:53.522
you know, we get
this statement from WeWork
961
00:46:53.522 --> 00:46:57.192
that the person has broken the law
and that they're going to pursue this,
962
00:46:57.192 --> 00:47:00.320
and they kind of were trying
to come off a bit as a victim
963
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:02.197
in the leak.
964
00:47:02.197 --> 00:47:05.325
They kind of said, "Okay, well,
some buildings have been delayed,
965
00:47:05.325 --> 00:47:08.370
but we can sort of paint the overall
narrative that things will still be fine."
966
00:47:08.370 --> 00:47:10.372
And they had these really powerful backers
967
00:47:10.372 --> 00:47:12.958
who have pumped them with money,
and so I think at that time
968
00:47:12.958 --> 00:47:15.043
it was hard to say...
969
00:47:15.043 --> 00:47:18.088
are they faking it till they make it a bit
and things are gonna work out?
970
00:47:18.088 --> 00:47:20.841
Will they grow up and kind of
figure out these problems?
971
00:47:20.841 --> 00:47:22.759
Or is this a runaway train?
972
00:47:22.759 --> 00:47:26.346
And then all that gets
kind of tossed out the window
973
00:47:26.346 --> 00:47:29.808
when just a few months later,
SoftBank enters the picture.
974
00:47:29.808 --> 00:47:31.101
[reporters clamoring]
975
00:47:32.186 --> 00:47:34.021
MAN 1: How's that?
MAN 2: That's good.
976
00:47:34.021 --> 00:47:36.356
WOMAN: Much better.
MAN 1: Yeah.
977
00:47:36.356 --> 00:47:39.151
[camera shutter clicking]
WOMAN: Okay, you guys
have 60 seconds left
978
00:47:39.151 --> 00:47:41.320
'cause I hear the money counting.
979
00:47:44.740 --> 00:47:49.494
- Masayoshi Son is the founder
and CEO of SoftBank,
980
00:47:49.494 --> 00:47:52.789
a large holding company
based out of Japan.
981
00:47:52.789 --> 00:47:54.875
Known as Masa.
982
00:47:54.875 --> 00:47:58.712
He is one of the richest people in Japan.
983
00:47:58.712 --> 00:48:01.256
In 2017, Masa
984
00:48:01.256 --> 00:48:04.384
raised the largest
venture capital fund of all time.
985
00:48:04.384 --> 00:48:05.385
It's called the Vision Fund.
986
00:48:06.136 --> 00:48:09.723
MAUREEN FARRELL:
The size of the Vision Fund
was unlike anything
987
00:48:09.723 --> 00:48:11.934
anyone had ever seen before.
988
00:48:11.934 --> 00:48:13.977
It was $100 billion.
989
00:48:13.977 --> 00:48:16.855
That essentially equated
to several years' worth
990
00:48:16.855 --> 00:48:19.608
of every U. S. venture capital fund.
991
00:48:19.608 --> 00:48:22.361
You put them all together
and it's around that size.
992
00:48:22.361 --> 00:48:23.695
MAN:
So when you told people
993
00:48:23.695 --> 00:48:25.489
you were gonna raise
a hundred-billion-dollar fund,
994
00:48:25.489 --> 00:48:27.324
what was the vision
that you actually gave them?
995
00:48:27.324 --> 00:48:30.953
- So, one vision, which is singularity.
996
00:48:30.953 --> 00:48:33.664
Singularity is the concept
997
00:48:33.664 --> 00:48:37.960
that in 30 years,
computers, artificial intelligence,
998
00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:39.920
they will be smarter than us.
999
00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:41.213
That's my belief.
1000
00:48:41.213 --> 00:48:44.424
ALEX:
The singularity has a lot of implications
1001
00:48:44.424 --> 00:48:46.969
for how technology
will be used by society,
1002
00:48:46.969 --> 00:48:50.681
and I think it also represents
this massive existential threat
1003
00:48:50.681 --> 00:48:55.644
where someday our creations
will outstrip us and not need us,
1004
00:48:55.644 --> 00:49:00.315
and we will be living lives
dictated by machines.
1005
00:49:00.315 --> 00:49:02.985
- So we are investing
a hundred billion dollars
1006
00:49:02.985 --> 00:49:05.487
just on one thing, AI.
1007
00:49:05.487 --> 00:49:07.739
ALEX:
The Vision Fund could basically play king,
1008
00:49:07.739 --> 00:49:09.950
and Masa was going around
looking for markets
1009
00:49:09.950 --> 00:49:12.286
that he thought
could be really high growth
1010
00:49:12.286 --> 00:49:15.914
and companies with a potential
to morph into something
1011
00:49:15.914 --> 00:49:19.126
to fit his vision of the future
of the singularity.
1012
00:49:19.126 --> 00:49:23.589
And Adam wanted WeWork
to be part of this huge vision.
1013
00:49:26.842 --> 00:49:29.761
- Adam Neumann and Masa Son
had met many times.
1014
00:49:29.761 --> 00:49:34.016
However, Masa had always thought
that WeWork was overvalued
1015
00:49:34.016 --> 00:49:36.894
and it would be too easy to replicate.
1016
00:49:36.894 --> 00:49:38.979
- The sharing economy's the future.
1017
00:49:38.979 --> 00:49:42.024
If I treat you
the way that I wanna be treated,
1018
00:49:42.024 --> 00:49:45.068
then we can actually make
a difference and be successful.
1019
00:49:45.068 --> 00:49:47.905
STEVE:
But because of Adam Neumann's charisma,
1020
00:49:47.905 --> 00:49:50.741
Masa Son arranged to meet with Adam
1021
00:49:50.741 --> 00:49:53.702
for this big two-hour tour
of headquarters.
1022
00:49:56.622 --> 00:49:58.874
Adam has been preparing
for this for weeks.
1023
00:50:01.126 --> 00:50:04.421
And he's pacing around, pacing around,
watching his clock.
1024
00:50:04.421 --> 00:50:06.924
[second hand clicking]
1025
00:50:06.924 --> 00:50:09.384
Fifteen minutes goes by, no Masa.
1026
00:50:09.384 --> 00:50:11.011
[balls clinking]
1027
00:50:11.011 --> 00:50:13.430
Half an hour goes by, no Masa.
1028
00:50:13.430 --> 00:50:15.682
[pendulum clicking]
1029
00:50:15.682 --> 00:50:18.644
A full hour goes by
and he's still looking at his clock.
1030
00:50:21.230 --> 00:50:23.649
Finally, Masa shows up, and he says,
1031
00:50:23.649 --> 00:50:27.611
"Adam, I'm so sorry, I'm late,
but we only have 12 minutes."
1032
00:50:31.031 --> 00:50:34.868
And they're going through WeWork
and he's giving him the super-speed tour.
1033
00:50:36.787 --> 00:50:40.415
At exactly 12 minutes,
Masa Son looks at his watch
1034
00:50:40.415 --> 00:50:43.335
and he says, "Adam,
I'm so sorry, but I have to go.
1035
00:50:46.296 --> 00:50:51.468
But," Masa said, "if you'd like,
you can ride with me to my next meeting."
1036
00:50:54.012 --> 00:50:59.560
So Adam grabs his iPad
with the whole WeWork SoftBank pitch,
1037
00:50:59.560 --> 00:51:01.353
and they jump in the car.
1038
00:51:03.647 --> 00:51:06.066
Adam pulls up his WeWork pitch,
1039
00:51:06.066 --> 00:51:09.319
and Masa says, "I don't need
the pitch deck. Let's just talk."
1040
00:51:12.322 --> 00:51:16.201
Masa turns to Adam and he says,
"Adam, let me ask you a question.
1041
00:51:17.995 --> 00:51:21.039
In a fight, who wins,
the smart guy or the crazy guy?"
1042
00:51:23.083 --> 00:51:25.794
And Adam says, "The crazy guy."
1043
00:51:25.794 --> 00:51:29.548
And he goes, "You're right,
but you're not crazy enough.
1044
00:51:29.548 --> 00:51:32.092
"You gotta be the crazy one.
1045
00:51:32.092 --> 00:51:34.052
"You need to think bigger.
1046
00:51:34.052 --> 00:51:36.346
You need to think 10 times bigger."
1047
00:51:38.599 --> 00:51:42.853
And Masa begins, you know,
doodling his vision for WeWork,
1048
00:51:42.853 --> 00:51:45.856
this grand plan to take WeWork global.
1049
00:51:48.525 --> 00:51:51.778
So basically Masa Son gave Adam Neumann
1050
00:51:51.778 --> 00:51:55.782
a check for $4 billion
and said, "Go crazy."
1051
00:51:57.743 --> 00:51:59.244
And that changes everything.
1052
00:52:01.038 --> 00:52:02.915
MAN: The Wall Street Journal
is reporting that SoftBank,
1053
00:52:02.915 --> 00:52:05.918
the Japanese investment firm,
is considering putting
1054
00:52:05.918 --> 00:52:08.837
$4 billion in your company.
1055
00:52:08.837 --> 00:52:10.047
Is that accurate?
1056
00:52:10.047 --> 00:52:12.090
- There is nothing
I can say on that topic,
1057
00:52:12.090 --> 00:52:13.675
but that sounds like a big number.
1058
00:52:13.675 --> 00:52:16.386
[woman laughs]
- That would be nice, wouldn't it?
1059
00:52:16.386 --> 00:52:19.014
- Sounds big.
1060
00:52:19.014 --> 00:52:21.600
♪ suspenseful music playing ♪
[camera shutter clicking]
1061
00:52:25.896 --> 00:52:27.439
[cash register bell rings]
1062
00:52:29.691 --> 00:52:32.361
♪ music tempo increasing ♪
[train wheels clacking]
1063
00:52:33.737 --> 00:52:37.658
[chanting "WeWork"]
1064
00:52:57.594 --> 00:52:59.721
- I don't remember the exact moment
1065
00:52:59.721 --> 00:53:04.017
I first heard about
the SoftBank investment.
1066
00:53:04.017 --> 00:53:06.436
You would hear rumors.
1067
00:53:06.436 --> 00:53:08.313
And to me it just seemed normal, you know.
1068
00:53:08.313 --> 00:53:09.898
They were raising money every year.
1069
00:53:09.898 --> 00:53:12.568
Their growth expectations
were really high.
1070
00:53:12.568 --> 00:53:15.320
I didn't think it would be...
1071
00:53:15.320 --> 00:53:18.657
as transformative as it ended up being.
1072
00:53:20.492 --> 00:53:22.870
ALEX: With the SoftBank money,
WeWork is able
1073
00:53:22.870 --> 00:53:26.206
to massively accelerate
global expansion plans.
1074
00:53:26.206 --> 00:53:29.543
SoftBank unlocks Asia in a new way.
1075
00:53:29.543 --> 00:53:32.963
You know, this meets Adam's big ambitions.
1076
00:53:32.963 --> 00:53:35.382
DON:
I mean, the growth was insane.
1077
00:53:35.382 --> 00:53:39.011
In the two and a half years I was
at WeWork, I negotiated more deals
1078
00:53:39.011 --> 00:53:41.763
and spoke to more lawyers
than I probably will the rest of my life.
1079
00:53:41.763 --> 00:53:45.017
QUINTON: Typically on a project you
wanna make sure it's photography-ready.
1080
00:53:45.017 --> 00:53:48.937
You want it to look perfectly staged.
You wanna have a good first impression.
1081
00:53:48.937 --> 00:53:51.231
You go to a WeWork opening "day of,"
1082
00:53:51.231 --> 00:53:53.692
they'd still be painting,
there'd be ladders everywhere.
1083
00:53:53.692 --> 00:53:54.985
People would be installing lights.
1084
00:53:54.985 --> 00:53:56.820
The AC wouldn't be working.
1085
00:53:56.820 --> 00:53:59.114
Because of the speed of everything,
1086
00:53:59.114 --> 00:54:01.575
nothing was finished
when it should have been.
1087
00:54:01.575 --> 00:54:04.912
DON: And the major goal,
from what I could tell, was just,
1088
00:54:04.912 --> 00:54:08.123
how many offices could open and how much
you could say the offices were filled
1089
00:54:08.123 --> 00:54:09.333
and how many people were in them.
1090
00:54:09.333 --> 00:54:11.418
It's almost like at car dealerships
1091
00:54:11.418 --> 00:54:13.837
in craziness with getting the cars sold
at the end of the month.
1092
00:54:13.837 --> 00:54:16.715
You know, sales guy comes to me,
it's the last day of the month,
1093
00:54:16.715 --> 00:54:18.926
and, you know,
"I really have to do this deal.
1094
00:54:18.926 --> 00:54:22.429
It's 800 desks.
It's gonna help us to get to the goal."
1095
00:54:22.429 --> 00:54:24.515
And, you know,
I look at the deal and it's like,
1096
00:54:24.515 --> 00:54:26.058
you know, "First eight months free,
1097
00:54:26.058 --> 00:54:28.101
and WeWork's building custom space."
1098
00:54:28.101 --> 00:54:30.395
And the response was,
you know, "Get 'em in.
1099
00:54:30.395 --> 00:54:32.064
They love it, they'll grow."
1100
00:54:32.064 --> 00:54:34.566
And, you know, I come to find out
1101
00:54:34.566 --> 00:54:37.194
that the small company
that can't afford to pay
1102
00:54:37.194 --> 00:54:41.198
for the 800 seats
for eight months is Microsoft.
1103
00:54:41.198 --> 00:54:43.742
ALEX: They stopped being
those savvy deal makers
1104
00:54:43.742 --> 00:54:48.205
and the edge that they might have been
bringing to negotiations is gone.
1105
00:54:48.205 --> 00:54:50.749
Plus, of course, everyone talks, and so
1106
00:54:50.749 --> 00:54:54.753
if everyone knows that SoftBank
has given these guys a ton of money,
1107
00:54:54.753 --> 00:54:58.298
are you really gonna let them cry "poor"
or drive a really hard bargain?
1108
00:54:58.298 --> 00:54:59.842
You're gonna say, "No," you know.
1109
00:54:59.842 --> 00:55:02.553
"You guys have billions of dollars,
you know, let us in."
1110
00:55:02.553 --> 00:55:06.139
RANDALL:
The ship of state, all the employees,
1111
00:55:06.139 --> 00:55:09.309
all the tenants and the customers,
all the partners,
1112
00:55:09.309 --> 00:55:10.769
were leaning on Adam.
1113
00:55:10.769 --> 00:55:13.230
Again, even Miguel, who's co-founder,
1114
00:55:13.230 --> 00:55:16.859
slowly... was shunted aside.
1115
00:55:16.859 --> 00:55:18.527
Adam wanted the spotlight.
1116
00:55:18.527 --> 00:55:21.196
Then he wanted Rebekah
to share the spotlight.
1117
00:55:21.196 --> 00:55:25.492
ALEX: She became
a bigger executive at WeWork.
1118
00:55:25.492 --> 00:55:28.120
And it speaks to kind of
her power with Adam
1119
00:55:28.120 --> 00:55:31.415
and with the company that,
over time, it's kind of like,
1120
00:55:31.415 --> 00:55:33.292
"Oh, now there are three co-founders,
1121
00:55:33.292 --> 00:55:36.503
there's Adam, Miguel, and Rebekah."
1122
00:55:36.503 --> 00:55:40.299
JOANNA: Adam felt that she had pulled him
out of whatever spiral that he was in.
1123
00:55:40.299 --> 00:55:42.759
And he gave her
a lot of credence for that,
1124
00:55:42.759 --> 00:55:46.138
and he really felt like she was
the backbone of their family.
1125
00:55:46.138 --> 00:55:50.142
That doesn't mean she belongs
in a corporate environment.
1126
00:55:50.142 --> 00:55:53.020
- She had the sort of like New Age vibe
1127
00:55:53.020 --> 00:55:55.397
and she starts guiding a huge
amount of decisions at WeWork
1128
00:55:55.397 --> 00:55:57.357
about the way they spent their money.
1129
00:55:57.357 --> 00:55:59.568
Adam's and Rebekah's spiritual advisor
1130
00:55:59.568 --> 00:56:02.196
would speak to executives
on a weekly basis,
1131
00:56:02.196 --> 00:56:06.825
and this constant dose of spiritualism
was due to Rebekah.
1132
00:56:06.825 --> 00:56:09.077
[cheering]
ADAM: Hello, New York.
1133
00:56:09.077 --> 00:56:10.162
Hello, WeWork.
1134
00:56:10.162 --> 00:56:12.748
Hello, global citizens of this Earth.
1135
00:56:12.748 --> 00:56:15.876
You know what a global citizen
of this Earth is?
1136
00:56:15.876 --> 00:56:17.669
It's a member of the We generation,
1137
00:56:17.669 --> 00:56:20.255
and a member of the We generation
does not discriminate
1138
00:56:20.255 --> 00:56:23.884
with age, race, gender, or religion.
1139
00:56:23.884 --> 00:56:27.137
If you're a member of the We generation,
make some noise!
1140
00:56:27.137 --> 00:56:29.681
[cheering]
1141
00:56:29.681 --> 00:56:31.850
- WeWork is also expanding
1142
00:56:31.850 --> 00:56:35.771
its kind of diverse and
sometimes confusing portfolio.
1143
00:56:35.771 --> 00:56:38.815
It makes a bunch of acquisitions
of other startups.
1144
00:56:38.815 --> 00:56:40.776
ADAM:
We had this idea of,
1145
00:56:40.776 --> 00:56:43.111
why don't we just invest money
in companies that make impact?
1146
00:56:43.111 --> 00:56:45.531
All the employees
will wanna work for them,
1147
00:56:45.531 --> 00:56:49.117
everybody wanna be part of it, and it's
just gonna work out in an amazing way.
1148
00:56:49.117 --> 00:56:51.286
And I looked at our team
and everybody looked at each other.
1149
00:56:51.286 --> 00:56:52.913
They said, "Of course, Adam,
1150
00:56:52.913 --> 00:56:54.915
that makes a lot of sense,
but who's gonna pay for that?"
1151
00:56:54.915 --> 00:56:56.625
And we said, "Well...
1152
00:56:56.625 --> 00:56:58.126
Masa might..." No.
1153
00:56:58.126 --> 00:56:59.628
We said, "Well..."
1154
00:56:59.628 --> 00:57:01.088
That was a private joke.
1155
00:57:01.088 --> 00:57:03.757
- I went back to meet with Adam
1156
00:57:03.757 --> 00:57:06.510
at sort of the new-and-improved
headquarters.
1157
00:57:06.510 --> 00:57:09.012
I get sort of the quick
version of the tour
1158
00:57:09.012 --> 00:57:11.723
and now WeWork has its own barista.
1159
00:57:11.723 --> 00:57:15.018
So I say, "Okay, I want a cappuccino,"
1160
00:57:15.018 --> 00:57:17.271
and Adam orders a latte.
1161
00:57:17.271 --> 00:57:20.274
And I reach for my coffee,
1162
00:57:20.274 --> 00:57:22.943
and Adam's like,
"Oh, no, no, that's mine."
1163
00:57:22.943 --> 00:57:25.779
And I was like, "No... Hold on, you know.
1164
00:57:25.779 --> 00:57:28.824
I got the cappuccino.
Like that's a cappuccino."
1165
00:57:28.824 --> 00:57:32.619
And Adam just looks really
confused and upset.
1166
00:57:32.619 --> 00:57:36.456
And one of the staff is like,
"Oh, I'm sorry.
1167
00:57:36.456 --> 00:57:39.960
We actually call those lattes
and those cappuccinos here,"
1168
00:57:39.960 --> 00:57:41.879
pointing at the opposite one.
1169
00:57:41.879 --> 00:57:46.008
It stood out to me as just like
a strange, gratuitous
1170
00:57:46.008 --> 00:57:51.013
reality-distortion moment around Adam
because he was ordering lattes
1171
00:57:51.013 --> 00:57:53.015
but wants cappuccinos.
1172
00:57:53.015 --> 00:57:55.559
And rather than try to explain
to him that he's wrong,
1173
00:57:55.559 --> 00:57:57.603
they're just gonna change
the meaning of that word.
1174
00:57:59.521 --> 00:58:00.939
RANDALL:
The money got insane.
1175
00:58:00.939 --> 00:58:03.609
And they shifted from this little idea...
1176
00:58:03.609 --> 00:58:06.653
Then it was, "Okay, we're now
going to tell you how to live, WeLive.
1177
00:58:06.653 --> 00:58:08.697
And now we're gonna redefine
how you live."
1178
00:58:08.697 --> 00:58:10.908
And that wasn't good enough. "WeGrow.
1179
00:58:10.908 --> 00:58:12.367
We're gonna educate your kids better."
1180
00:58:12.367 --> 00:58:14.286
- When my eldest daughter
was in kindergarten,
1181
00:58:14.286 --> 00:58:16.205
as we started to look around for schools
1182
00:58:16.205 --> 00:58:18.749
in both New York and the west coast,
1183
00:58:18.749 --> 00:58:23.462
I wasn't finding a place that was
gonna nurture her spirit and her soul
1184
00:58:23.462 --> 00:58:25.422
as much as her mind.
1185
00:58:25.422 --> 00:58:27.132
DON:
You know, at some point
1186
00:58:27.132 --> 00:58:29.676
Rebekah was talking
to the company about WeGrow,
1187
00:58:29.676 --> 00:58:32.763
and she's talking in front of
a cross-section of 700 employees,
1188
00:58:32.763 --> 00:58:34.598
and is basically saying that,
1189
00:58:34.598 --> 00:58:37.559
New York City private schools
aren't good enough for our children.
1190
00:58:37.559 --> 00:58:41.522
And then meanwhile,
you're gonna start a school that has
1191
00:58:41.522 --> 00:58:46.568
like a 35, 40 grand tuition fee
per elementary school kid.
1192
00:58:46.568 --> 00:58:49.071
That school is exclusionary
to a lot of people, right?
1193
00:58:49.071 --> 00:58:54.868
That's just a prototypical person
who's grown up in certain circles
1194
00:58:54.868 --> 00:58:57.538
and doesn't realize there's
other people in the world.
1195
00:58:57.538 --> 00:59:01.792
RANDALL:
The idea that you're gonna reinvent work
1196
00:59:01.792 --> 00:59:04.586
is incredibly audacious unto itself.
1197
00:59:04.586 --> 00:59:08.257
To say, "While we're doing that,
we're also gonna reinvent education..."
1198
00:59:08.257 --> 00:59:11.093
which people have been trying
to do for centuries,
1199
00:59:11.093 --> 00:59:15.013
that's the kind of decision tree
that you see in a company
1200
00:59:15.013 --> 00:59:18.392
where you start to believe your own BS.
1201
00:59:18.392 --> 00:59:21.061
HOST: All right, welcome, everyone,
to The School of Greatness podcast.
1202
00:59:21.061 --> 00:59:23.230
We've got Rebekah Neumann in the house.
1203
00:59:23.230 --> 00:59:25.566
- Thanks for having me.
- Yeah, this is fun.
1204
00:59:25.566 --> 00:59:28.861
What is the mission of WeGrow,
just so I understand clearly?
1205
00:59:28.861 --> 00:59:32.155
- The mission of WeGrow,
and quite honestly the collective "we"
1206
00:59:32.155 --> 00:59:33.365
that we're all living under,
1207
00:59:33.365 --> 00:59:35.284
is to elevate the world's consciousness.
1208
00:59:35.284 --> 00:59:38.537
HOST: Hmm.
- At WeGrow, specifically,
1209
00:59:38.537 --> 00:59:41.081
through unleashing
every human's superpowers
1210
00:59:41.081 --> 00:59:43.417
and expanding happiness.
1211
00:59:43.417 --> 00:59:45.002
- Okay, and it's...
1212
00:59:45.002 --> 00:59:47.045
And WeGrow is starting as a school?
- Yes.
1213
00:59:47.045 --> 00:59:50.090
- But it's going to be evolving into
much more, I'm assuming, right?
1214
00:59:50.090 --> 00:59:52.509
- It's kind of a practice
and a new approach to life.
1215
00:59:52.509 --> 00:59:55.345
We have started with children,
but we're...
1216
00:59:55.345 --> 00:59:58.307
as soon as next week starting
to pilot some of the curriculum
1217
00:59:58.307 --> 01:00:00.309
on our WeGrownups.
1218
01:00:00.309 --> 01:00:01.935
- Really?
- Uh-huh.
1219
01:00:01.935 --> 01:00:03.604
- Is that what you call us?
- Just for the moment.
1220
01:00:03.604 --> 01:00:05.105
- For fun, yeah.
- Yeah, why not?
1221
01:00:08.483 --> 01:00:10.235
AUGUST:
I was working in WeWork
1222
01:00:10.235 --> 01:00:13.197
and living in WeLive.
1223
01:00:13.197 --> 01:00:16.533
My entire life...
1224
01:00:16.533 --> 01:00:19.953
was being propped up by the We community.
1225
01:00:19.953 --> 01:00:24.041
Every time a friend outside
of the We community would come over,
1226
01:00:24.041 --> 01:00:26.627
they would only come over that one time.
1227
01:00:26.627 --> 01:00:30.756
Because they would walk out with
this strange impression of what it is.
1228
01:00:33.300 --> 01:00:37.221
And pretty quickly I had
1229
01:00:37.221 --> 01:00:40.682
alienated most of my friends
outside of the building.
1230
01:00:42.226 --> 01:00:44.353
- When Adam had an investor
coming through,
1231
01:00:44.353 --> 01:00:46.730
we would know ahead of time
or 10 minutes before,
1232
01:00:46.730 --> 01:00:48.941
and we were being told,
"Go into the space.
1233
01:00:48.941 --> 01:00:51.151
Just hang out, be casual.
Bring your laptop."
1234
01:00:51.151 --> 01:00:53.529
And we would go there
and activate the space.
1235
01:00:53.529 --> 01:00:55.906
AUGUST: They were like,
"Everybody should come,"
1236
01:00:55.906 --> 01:00:58.992
just so there's pockets of folks that are
1237
01:00:58.992 --> 01:01:03.080
living the WeLive life so Adam
can come and sort of show it off.
1238
01:01:03.080 --> 01:01:04.623
♪ "Juicy" by Notorious B. I. G. playing ♪
1239
01:01:04.623 --> 01:01:07.709
- ♪ I used to read Word Up! magazine... ♪
1240
01:01:07.709 --> 01:01:10.462
QUINTON: And they'd put on
"Juicy" by Biggie Smalls,
1241
01:01:10.462 --> 01:01:13.006
and they'd be playing a loop
over and over again,
1242
01:01:13.006 --> 01:01:15.759
waiting for that one moment
when the investor came
1243
01:01:15.759 --> 01:01:18.387
so that when they
walked the space, we were there
1244
01:01:18.387 --> 01:01:20.681
just to fill it up and make it look good.
1245
01:01:20.681 --> 01:01:22.975
AUGUST:
Adam showed up with this investor
1246
01:01:22.975 --> 01:01:27.020
and with every drink, he had another
vision of what WeWork could be,
1247
01:01:27.020 --> 01:01:31.275
like the We community could be,
what it was growing into.
1248
01:01:31.275 --> 01:01:32.985
And...
1249
01:01:32.985 --> 01:01:37.489
at a certain point, you're like,
"Dude, just shut the fuck up, man.
1250
01:01:37.489 --> 01:01:39.449
"Like, we are just having a good time.
1251
01:01:39.449 --> 01:01:41.827
"Can we just... can we just hang out
1252
01:01:41.827 --> 01:01:45.539
and have this drink
and just talk about anything else?"
1253
01:01:45.539 --> 01:01:48.500
It got really draining
and really exhausting,
1254
01:01:48.500 --> 01:01:51.587
to constantly...
1255
01:01:51.587 --> 01:01:54.506
be a part of... this...
1256
01:01:55.924 --> 01:01:57.092
thing.
1257
01:01:58.260 --> 01:02:00.929
DEREK:
The initial clients of WeWork
1258
01:02:00.929 --> 01:02:03.390
thought that they were members.
1259
01:02:03.390 --> 01:02:05.475
But they were actually a resource
1260
01:02:05.475 --> 01:02:09.563
from which WeWork
could extract a reputation
1261
01:02:09.563 --> 01:02:12.941
and then they could sort of
slingshot that reputation
1262
01:02:12.941 --> 01:02:15.485
to get big corporations to think,
1263
01:02:15.485 --> 01:02:18.739
"We need to ask WeWork
1264
01:02:18.739 --> 01:02:21.909
"how to attract the best and brightest
1265
01:02:21.909 --> 01:02:24.536
of this up-and-coming generation."
1266
01:02:25.996 --> 01:02:29.249
MEGAN: I eventually, I was
promoted to operations manager,
1267
01:02:29.249 --> 01:02:32.961
and so I was getting
a little more distant from Adam.
1268
01:02:32.961 --> 01:02:37.508
His excitement
isn't so close to me that I...
1269
01:02:37.508 --> 01:02:41.345
am breathing it in
and, like, intoxicated by it.
1270
01:02:41.345 --> 01:02:47.059
And I'm able to start seeing more clearly
that he was manipulative.
1271
01:02:47.059 --> 01:02:50.103
He had ways of using psychology
1272
01:02:50.103 --> 01:02:54.066
to maneuver through people's flaws
1273
01:02:54.066 --> 01:02:56.485
and to use that to his benefit.
1274
01:02:57.903 --> 01:02:59.988
Adam was giving me a review.
1275
01:02:59.988 --> 01:03:02.491
We were in one of
the glass conference rooms.
1276
01:03:02.491 --> 01:03:05.953
He was telling me I was doing a great job.
1277
01:03:05.953 --> 01:03:08.956
And then another employee walked by
1278
01:03:08.956 --> 01:03:13.126
who was very peppy and very pretty,
1279
01:03:13.126 --> 01:03:16.088
and he said, "But you're not her."
1280
01:03:16.088 --> 01:03:18.507
And he pointed out her and said,
"You could be,
1281
01:03:18.507 --> 01:03:21.009
but you don't have
the confidence that she has."
1282
01:03:22.761 --> 01:03:25.514
I went home and thought,
"What do I need to do
1283
01:03:25.514 --> 01:03:27.975
to become a better employee here
and become like her?"
1284
01:03:30.185 --> 01:03:35.440
You're constantly in this fear of,
"somebody else is gonna take my job.
1285
01:03:35.440 --> 01:03:37.401
I have to fight to stay here."
1286
01:03:37.401 --> 01:03:40.612
Like, I felt constantly like
I couldn't just breathe.
1287
01:03:42.322 --> 01:03:46.952
Adam would state, "I could fire all of you
and do this by myself."
1288
01:03:48.078 --> 01:03:53.250
That's a bold statement to say to people
who are working their ass off for you.
1289
01:03:55.919 --> 01:03:57.254
- Good morning.
- Shalom.
1290
01:03:57.254 --> 01:03:58.922
- Shalom. Um...
1291
01:03:58.922 --> 01:04:00.424
I'm sure that there are lots
of people here
1292
01:04:00.424 --> 01:04:02.843
who know what WeWork is,
who maybe have worked
1293
01:04:02.843 --> 01:04:05.804
in one or several WeWorks...
1294
01:04:05.804 --> 01:04:10.184
DEREK: So I met Adam in Washington, D.C.
for an event.
1295
01:04:10.184 --> 01:04:12.519
My friends who worked
at WeWork told me about him.
1296
01:04:12.519 --> 01:04:16.440
And they just said this was
1297
01:04:16.440 --> 01:04:18.859
one of the most charismatic...
1298
01:04:18.859 --> 01:04:20.903
one of the most visionary
1299
01:04:20.903 --> 01:04:24.698
and ingenious leaders
1300
01:04:24.698 --> 01:04:27.618
of any tech company in the world.
1301
01:04:27.618 --> 01:04:30.829
He just sounded like a mythical figure.
1302
01:04:30.829 --> 01:04:33.415
And I was just really curious, like,
1303
01:04:33.415 --> 01:04:38.212
what does he understand about leasing
real estate and subdividing it?
1304
01:04:38.212 --> 01:04:39.588
Like, we're talking about
1305
01:04:39.588 --> 01:04:43.342
one of the most boring
business models in the world,
1306
01:04:43.342 --> 01:04:45.260
and I was really curious
to know what was behind it.
1307
01:04:45.260 --> 01:04:47.846
It's fascinating to me
about WeWork because
1308
01:04:47.846 --> 01:04:49.389
lots of people here who have been there,
1309
01:04:49.389 --> 01:04:52.226
they've seen how lovely
the interior decoration is.
1310
01:04:52.226 --> 01:04:56.063
But there are lots of companies
that make beautiful spaces.
1311
01:04:56.063 --> 01:04:59.358
Um, but they're not worth $20 billion,
1312
01:04:59.358 --> 01:05:01.902
which is WeWork's most recent valuation.
1313
01:05:01.902 --> 01:05:05.906
So I wonder what do you consider
to be your special sauce?
1314
01:05:05.906 --> 01:05:08.492
- So, first of all, excellent question.
1315
01:05:08.492 --> 01:05:12.287
From the first day that we started WeWork,
it was about bringing people together.
1316
01:05:12.287 --> 01:05:14.748
As our mission, and our mission always...
1317
01:05:14.748 --> 01:05:17.334
- And his answer was everything
that we've heard in the last few years,
1318
01:05:17.334 --> 01:05:19.336
it's that they were doing
something special with the culture,
1319
01:05:19.336 --> 01:05:22.965
that their special sauce
couldn't be found in earnings
1320
01:05:22.965 --> 01:05:24.883
or cash flow or revenue.
1321
01:05:24.883 --> 01:05:27.511
It was a... a spirit of We
1322
01:05:27.511 --> 01:05:29.596
that was the truly distinguishing part
of this company.
1323
01:05:29.596 --> 01:05:31.765
- And the one thing, you say,
"Are you a co-working space?"
1324
01:05:31.765 --> 01:05:34.935
We're as much a co-working space as Amazon
is a book-selling store.
1325
01:05:34.935 --> 01:05:37.563
Anybody who thought that Amazon
was there just to sell books
1326
01:05:37.563 --> 01:05:40.399
just didn't understand the vision,
and you just need to look now and see
1327
01:05:40.399 --> 01:05:42.025
how much greater the vision is.
1328
01:05:42.025 --> 01:05:44.987
DEREK: You know,
I wish I'd pressed him harder on it.
1329
01:05:44.987 --> 01:05:46.780
But I didn't because
1330
01:05:46.780 --> 01:05:50.617
I had no idea
what the company actually was.
1331
01:05:50.617 --> 01:05:52.786
And I think in the case of Adam Neumann,
1332
01:05:52.786 --> 01:05:57.541
there were a lot of people
who were impressed by his live charisma,
1333
01:05:57.541 --> 01:06:02.254
who privately harbored doubts
about exactly how all of this worked.
1334
01:06:02.254 --> 01:06:05.007
I was one of them, I suppose, you know?
1335
01:06:05.007 --> 01:06:06.925
I didn't say in that interview,
1336
01:06:06.925 --> 01:06:10.554
"I think that this company is just,
you know, a lot of smoke and mirrors."
1337
01:06:10.554 --> 01:06:12.181
I didn't, I didn't know for sure.
1338
01:06:12.181 --> 01:06:15.184
I just privately harbored
this doubt that said that
1339
01:06:15.184 --> 01:06:17.352
this was all kind of a magic show.
1340
01:06:17.352 --> 01:06:19.938
- So our first mission was,
create the world where people make a life.
1341
01:06:19.938 --> 01:06:23.400
That was for WeWork. WeLive
is helping you live and not just exist.
1342
01:06:23.400 --> 01:06:25.235
And now we have a WeOS,
1343
01:06:25.235 --> 01:06:27.779
which is our operating system
for physical spaces.
1344
01:06:27.779 --> 01:06:30.699
And it's growing very fast
and it's everything from your entry system
1345
01:06:30.699 --> 01:06:33.202
when you enter the building,
but then how do you book a conference room
1346
01:06:33.202 --> 01:06:35.704
and how do you attend an event
and who's signed in the building...?
1347
01:06:35.704 --> 01:06:39.917
STEVE: Real estate usually is a very
dependable, predictable business.
1348
01:06:39.917 --> 01:06:41.960
It doesn't grow that much,
but it's steady.
1349
01:06:41.960 --> 01:06:43.754
You can kind of map out these returns.
1350
01:06:43.754 --> 01:06:48.217
But WeWork was growing
so fast that it was being valued
1351
01:06:48.217 --> 01:06:52.429
by investors as an ultrafast growth,
1352
01:06:52.429 --> 01:06:54.723
low-overhead technology company.
1353
01:06:54.723 --> 01:06:59.269
LISA: They created this sort of
Facebook-type platform for members
1354
01:06:59.269 --> 01:07:02.564
where you could get people
connected through technology.
1355
01:07:02.564 --> 01:07:05.734
DON: WeWork has what's like
its internal LinkedIn, I call it, right?
1356
01:07:05.734 --> 01:07:07.402
It's called the WeWork Member Network.
1357
01:07:07.402 --> 01:07:09.112
You know, you have your profile page.
1358
01:07:09.112 --> 01:07:11.031
- Adam was often saying,
1359
01:07:11.031 --> 01:07:13.575
"Oh, and people are posting
job opportunities
1360
01:07:13.575 --> 01:07:16.161
and connecting with each other
on the platform."
1361
01:07:16.161 --> 01:07:19.665
ALEX: They had acquired a bunch
of interesting technologies
1362
01:07:19.665 --> 01:07:22.292
and were stitching together
what might have been by far
1363
01:07:22.292 --> 01:07:25.963
the most comprehensive tool
for how people work.
1364
01:07:25.963 --> 01:07:29.258
ADAM: We use beacon technology
but a lot of other aspects.
1365
01:07:29.258 --> 01:07:32.135
We're using our video cameras to actually
see where interactions are happening.
1366
01:07:32.135 --> 01:07:36.181
And our entire process is built to make
our members more successful.
1367
01:07:36.181 --> 01:07:38.392
ALEX:
The cynical read, of course, is,
1368
01:07:38.392 --> 01:07:42.729
well, those intentions are all great,
but what you still do is office space
1369
01:07:42.729 --> 01:07:44.857
and you are a real estate company.
1370
01:07:44.857 --> 01:07:48.652
But I think that, you know,
when companies are private,
1371
01:07:48.652 --> 01:07:51.530
it's hard for us to know what's
happening behind the scenes.
1372
01:07:54.658 --> 01:07:57.744
- My business is called
Thinknum Alternative Data.
1373
01:07:57.744 --> 01:08:02.791
And we index and crawl
public information from the Web.
1374
01:08:02.791 --> 01:08:07.880
Our bots just happened to add WeWork
into our list of companies,
1375
01:08:07.880 --> 01:08:12.843
and then our bots found something
astonishing about WeWork.
1376
01:08:12.843 --> 01:08:17.848
WeWork painted themselves as this company
that was growing extremely fast,
1377
01:08:17.848 --> 01:08:22.144
and once people joined
they don't really leave.
1378
01:08:22.144 --> 01:08:25.480
But using data on the public Web,
1379
01:08:25.480 --> 01:08:27.858
we actually plotted the churn rate,
1380
01:08:27.858 --> 01:08:31.445
which is how many people join
and then leave.
1381
01:08:31.445 --> 01:08:34.823
And we did see that
the churn rate had increased
1382
01:08:34.823 --> 01:08:36.950
and this was accelerating.
1383
01:08:36.950 --> 01:08:39.494
The other trend we found was
1384
01:08:39.494 --> 01:08:42.414
no one ever used
their internal social network.
1385
01:08:43.498 --> 01:08:46.460
When you call yourselves
a technology company,
1386
01:08:46.460 --> 01:08:50.881
and when you actually build
a social network to help
further paint that picture,
1387
01:08:50.881 --> 01:08:54.551
if no one uses it, then you're
not a technology company.
1388
01:08:54.551 --> 01:08:56.053
[keying on keyboard]
1389
01:08:56.053 --> 01:08:58.680
Our next instinct was,
let's write a blog post
1390
01:08:58.680 --> 01:09:00.474
and, you know, just share our findings.
1391
01:09:00.474 --> 01:09:02.643
It really started taking off there.
1392
01:09:02.643 --> 01:09:07.314
Then, about three hours later,
WeWork sent us an email
1393
01:09:07.314 --> 01:09:11.193
asking if we could
take down the blog post.
1394
01:09:11.193 --> 01:09:14.404
Our first instinct was to just ignore it.
1395
01:09:14.404 --> 01:09:20.035
And then the community manager
stopped by to our office.
1396
01:09:20.035 --> 01:09:21.787
And she says,
1397
01:09:21.787 --> 01:09:25.874
"You've violated our membership
happiness clause,"
1398
01:09:25.874 --> 01:09:29.837
and the kicker was, she said,
"You have 30 minutes to leave." [laughs]
1399
01:09:29.837 --> 01:09:34.049
In the wake of our blog post
and publication,
1400
01:09:34.049 --> 01:09:36.260
WeWork kept raising more money.
1401
01:09:40.472 --> 01:09:44.518
SCOTT: I first read about WeWork
when they raised money on SoftBank,
1402
01:09:44.518 --> 01:09:47.396
at a $20 billion valuation.
1403
01:09:47.396 --> 01:09:50.607
And at that point they had
about 200 locations.
1404
01:09:50.607 --> 01:09:53.110
I went through and looked at the buildings
1405
01:09:53.110 --> 01:09:55.404
that they actually had
their facilities in.
1406
01:09:55.404 --> 01:09:58.282
And I determined at that valuation
1407
01:09:58.282 --> 01:10:01.827
that the 200 buildings
were each worth less
1408
01:10:01.827 --> 01:10:05.122
than that WeWork office
was being valued at.
1409
01:10:06.748 --> 01:10:10.836
And I said that WeWork was the most
overvalued private company in the world.
1410
01:10:12.921 --> 01:10:18.260
ALEX: Adam Neumann told us
repeatedly that WeWork was profitable.
1411
01:10:18.260 --> 01:10:20.429
We've since found out
1412
01:10:20.429 --> 01:10:24.433
that how Neumann and WeWork
were considering themselves profitable
1413
01:10:24.433 --> 01:10:26.685
was a stretch at best.
1414
01:10:27.436 --> 01:10:29.062
WOMAN:
Are you profitable?
1415
01:10:29.062 --> 01:10:31.064
ADAM:
So we are... as per choice.
1416
01:10:31.064 --> 01:10:33.984
Because when you have a 40% business,
when you have a margin,
1417
01:10:33.984 --> 01:10:36.695
you can actually choose
when to be profitable.
WOMAN: Right.
1418
01:10:36.695 --> 01:10:40.449
- We like to hover around
an EBITDA, a break even,
1419
01:10:40.449 --> 01:10:42.868
and then we can choose when we wanna move,
where we wanna move.
1420
01:10:42.868 --> 01:10:45.579
Right now we're in
a very high-growth stage of our business,
1421
01:10:45.579 --> 01:10:49.082
and we don't see that
stopping anytime soon.
1422
01:10:49.082 --> 01:10:50.417
- So EBITDA--
1423
01:10:50.417 --> 01:10:53.128
earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortization--
1424
01:10:53.128 --> 01:10:57.925
is sort of this accepted metric
for how profitable a company might be.
1425
01:10:57.925 --> 01:11:01.512
But WeWork started inventing
their own financial metrics
1426
01:11:01.512 --> 01:11:04.348
to enter into this
consensual hallucination,
1427
01:11:04.348 --> 01:11:08.227
and they used this term
"community adjusted EBITDA."
1428
01:11:08.227 --> 01:11:09.937
Basically it was an attempt to say,
1429
01:11:09.937 --> 01:11:14.358
"we want to pretend to be
profitable by ignoring these expenses."
1430
01:11:14.358 --> 01:11:16.443
MAUREEN:
They adjusted for things
1431
01:11:16.443 --> 01:11:20.322
that were ridiculous to strip out
and say you're profitable.
1432
01:11:20.322 --> 01:11:23.742
So suddenly they went
from a loss-making company
1433
01:11:23.742 --> 01:11:25.953
to a profitable company,
1434
01:11:25.953 --> 01:11:30.082
just by financial engineering
and gimmickry.
1435
01:11:30.082 --> 01:11:34.878
Every year WeWork would project profits,
1436
01:11:34.878 --> 01:11:37.256
would fail to make any profits
1437
01:11:37.256 --> 01:11:40.676
and actually their losses
would get larger and larger.
1438
01:11:40.676 --> 01:11:46.265
Yet investors in the private markets
kept on bidding up the price of WeWork.
1439
01:11:46.265 --> 01:11:48.392
It kept on getting
higher and higher and higher.
1440
01:11:48.392 --> 01:11:51.562
It's sort of mind-boggling
that that happened.
1441
01:11:51.562 --> 01:11:55.732
And I mean that more than anything else
speaks to the gifts of Adam Neumann.
1442
01:11:55.732 --> 01:11:59.653
- It is my honor and pleasure
to introduce to you right now
1443
01:11:59.653 --> 01:12:02.239
our co-founders, Miguel McKelvey
and Adam Neumann.
1444
01:12:02.239 --> 01:12:04.157
Help me welcome them to the stage!
1445
01:12:07.494 --> 01:12:08.912
- Shalom!
1446
01:12:10.914 --> 01:12:13.542
LIRON: I was proud to see
the events continue to grow.
1447
01:12:15.294 --> 01:12:17.629
But I saw the change in Adam.
1448
01:12:17.629 --> 01:12:20.007
I think it was money blindness.
1449
01:12:20.841 --> 01:12:24.761
There's so much money behind us
that nothing can happen, right?
1450
01:12:24.761 --> 01:12:27.181
We'd become untouchable, in a sense.
1451
01:12:27.181 --> 01:12:28.765
[audience applauding]
1452
01:12:28.765 --> 01:12:31.268
It started to feel like it was
more just about the business
1453
01:12:31.268 --> 01:12:36.523
and not about this community
that I grew to love over those many years.
1454
01:12:37.316 --> 01:12:41.320
I think that's where I started to lose
my creative juices for the company.
1455
01:12:42.321 --> 01:12:45.032
QUINTON:
After my first summer camp,
1456
01:12:45.032 --> 01:12:46.992
I tried to get out
of entering the second year.
1457
01:12:46.992 --> 01:12:51.371
I sat down with one of the executives
and explained to her that,
1458
01:12:51.371 --> 01:12:53.624
"Last year I went, I didn't enjoy myself.
1459
01:12:53.624 --> 01:12:57.586
It's not for everybody,
and please don't make me go again."
1460
01:12:57.586 --> 01:13:01.048
And she kindly said, "I see your point,
1461
01:13:01.048 --> 01:13:05.594
but it's a mandatory event,
as most company outings are."
1462
01:13:05.594 --> 01:13:09.765
- The "We" is, I think,
the really big thing in
1463
01:13:09.765 --> 01:13:11.934
the mission of what we're doing.
1464
01:13:11.934 --> 01:13:15.896
So let's just close our eyes
for one second.
1465
01:13:15.896 --> 01:13:18.982
Close eyes, hold hands.
1466
01:13:18.982 --> 01:13:22.277
DON: The way these events worked
was that you would go
1467
01:13:22.277 --> 01:13:24.947
hear presentations for like
almost eight hours a day
1468
01:13:24.947 --> 01:13:26.823
for maybe two or three days.
1469
01:13:27.741 --> 01:13:32.204
And to make sure that people
were actually attending...
1470
01:13:32.204 --> 01:13:34.122
we had tracking bracelets on.
1471
01:13:34.122 --> 01:13:37.376
REBEKAH:
Just think about a reality in which
1472
01:13:37.376 --> 01:13:41.547
the energy that we're feeling
right now with one another
1473
01:13:41.547 --> 01:13:45.968
is an energy of unity,
an energy where I am you and you are me
1474
01:13:45.968 --> 01:13:48.178
and we all are we.
1475
01:13:48.178 --> 01:13:50.305
QUINTON:
They would address the crowd,
1476
01:13:50.305 --> 01:13:54.393
uh, talking about whatever
word of the day that was...
1477
01:13:54.393 --> 01:13:56.144
like "authenticity."
1478
01:13:56.144 --> 01:13:58.188
And as we're sitting in the mud,
I'm thinking,
1479
01:13:58.188 --> 01:14:01.483
"Well, you forced me to come
to this summer camp and sit in the mud.
1480
01:14:01.483 --> 01:14:03.986
Nothing about this to me seems authentic."
1481
01:14:03.986 --> 01:14:06.363
ADAM:
If we do the work right and we find a way
1482
01:14:06.363 --> 01:14:09.533
to become a real family
in this community and company,
1483
01:14:09.533 --> 01:14:11.410
we could wake up one day and say,
1484
01:14:11.410 --> 01:14:14.496
"We want to solve the problem of children
without parents in this world."
1485
01:14:14.496 --> 01:14:17.332
We can win-- and do it.
REBEKAH: And children who are
in abusive situations.
1486
01:14:17.332 --> 01:14:19.168
ADAM: And then children
in abusive situations.
1487
01:14:19.168 --> 01:14:21.587
And from that we can go to world hunger,
1488
01:14:21.587 --> 01:14:24.423
and there's so many topics
that we could take one by one,
1489
01:14:24.423 --> 01:14:28.635
and we will be able to tackle
anything that we set our minds to.
1490
01:14:30.512 --> 01:14:32.764
MAUREEN: He would talk about being
president of the world.
1491
01:14:32.764 --> 01:14:35.142
He would say things like that
and people would say,
1492
01:14:35.142 --> 01:14:36.768
"Eh, is he serious?"
1493
01:14:36.768 --> 01:14:39.104
It seemed really wild and crazy,
1494
01:14:39.104 --> 01:14:43.775
but it was hard to make sense
of what made sense in unicorn land.
1495
01:14:45.861 --> 01:14:49.823
ADAM: I wanted to talk a little bit about
the past and where we came from.
1496
01:14:49.823 --> 01:14:52.034
We're not here by mistake.
1497
01:14:52.034 --> 01:14:55.078
This was thought about
and planned 10 years ago.
1498
01:14:55.078 --> 01:14:57.789
And the funniest thing about it,
from the day we moved to Brooklyn,
1499
01:14:57.789 --> 01:15:00.876
Miguel and I were meeting regularly,
just like that picture,
1500
01:15:00.876 --> 01:15:02.836
planning for the future.
1501
01:15:02.836 --> 01:15:05.172
We knew that...
1502
01:15:06.048 --> 01:15:08.550
whatever it is we're looking for
1503
01:15:08.550 --> 01:15:10.636
must be greater than ourselves.
1504
01:15:10.636 --> 01:15:15.307
Moving forward the "We" company.
1505
01:15:17.601 --> 01:15:20.479
ALEX: SoftBank had bet
on Adam as an entrepreneur.
1506
01:15:20.479 --> 01:15:23.690
They knew that the valuation was high.
1507
01:15:23.690 --> 01:15:26.568
But they thought that, you know,
a winner-take-all in this market,
1508
01:15:26.568 --> 01:15:28.529
like they had seen in other markets,
1509
01:15:28.529 --> 01:15:31.490
would be so big that they could,
you know, tolerate
1510
01:15:31.490 --> 01:15:33.075
that, that valuation.
1511
01:15:33.075 --> 01:15:36.954
But when there's sort of
a critical mass of doubt
1512
01:15:36.954 --> 01:15:39.289
coming back to SoftBank,
1513
01:15:39.289 --> 01:15:41.625
what are the sovereign wealth funds,
1514
01:15:41.625 --> 01:15:44.461
who are the biggest investors
in SoftBank's Vision Fund,
1515
01:15:44.461 --> 01:15:45.671
what are they saying?
1516
01:15:47.589 --> 01:15:49.800
RANDALL:
When you're raising $100 billion,
1517
01:15:49.800 --> 01:15:51.885
you're going to the biggest
deep-pocket sources,
1518
01:15:51.885 --> 01:15:54.179
so, of course, where does Masa go
1519
01:15:54.179 --> 01:15:57.099
but he goes to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1520
01:15:57.099 --> 01:15:59.685
and they became his biggest backers.
1521
01:15:59.685 --> 01:16:04.648
- The Saudis put dumb money
into Masa Son's Vision Fund,
1522
01:16:04.648 --> 01:16:07.484
because he says,
"I'll get you in on the ground floor
1523
01:16:07.484 --> 01:16:10.028
"of the next generation
of great tech companies
1524
01:16:10.028 --> 01:16:11.738
"that are gonna rule the world.
1525
01:16:11.738 --> 01:16:16.243
Give me $45 billion, and I'll
make you a trillion dollars."
1526
01:16:16.243 --> 01:16:18.579
RANDALL:
They wanna get out of the oil business
1527
01:16:18.579 --> 01:16:21.206
and get into as many other
businesses as possible.
1528
01:16:21.206 --> 01:16:23.750
Because they're sitting
on a dwindling asset.
1529
01:16:23.750 --> 01:16:27.880
And so what better business
to diversify than technology
1530
01:16:27.880 --> 01:16:31.592
and what better way than with the most
renowned tech investor in the world
1531
01:16:31.592 --> 01:16:34.928
who wants to play on the scale
that you can play on?
1532
01:16:34.928 --> 01:16:39.266
- The problem, however, is that you
can't really get in on the ground floor
1533
01:16:39.266 --> 01:16:42.019
at Facebook or Google
or Amazon or Netflix.
1534
01:16:42.019 --> 01:16:43.604
It's way too late.
1535
01:16:43.604 --> 01:16:46.815
So you have Masa Son
investing all this money in companies
1536
01:16:46.815 --> 01:16:51.486
he's telling the world are tech companies
but aren't real tech companies.
1537
01:16:51.486 --> 01:16:54.615
RANDALL: And that's a lot of
pressure to put on a team,
1538
01:16:54.615 --> 01:16:58.410
to say, "Pretty soon this company
better be worth $100 billion,"
1539
01:16:58.410 --> 01:17:01.830
and at some point you have to have
the numbers to back up that valuation.
1540
01:17:01.830 --> 01:17:03.248
- You and me...
1541
01:17:03.248 --> 01:17:06.960
RANDALL: And that meant
that they had to show growth
1542
01:17:06.960 --> 01:17:08.212
at any cost.
1543
01:17:08.212 --> 01:17:10.005
And that's a problem.
1544
01:17:10.005 --> 01:17:13.425
- Show them your heart,
show them your truth.
1545
01:17:13.425 --> 01:17:15.010
Never give up!
1546
01:17:15.010 --> 01:17:16.386
[crowd cheering, whistling]
1547
01:17:16.386 --> 01:17:18.639
Work until you drop!
1548
01:17:18.639 --> 01:17:20.474
[waves crashing]
1549
01:17:26.146 --> 01:17:28.649
♪ Hawaiian band playing "Jingle Bells" ♪
1550
01:17:35.864 --> 01:17:38.784
MAUREEN:
It's Christmas Eve 2018,
1551
01:17:38.784 --> 01:17:42.371
Adam is with his family in Hawaii.
1552
01:17:42.371 --> 01:17:45.457
Surfing, you know, relaxing.
It's vacation time.
1553
01:17:49.670 --> 01:17:52.339
Masa and Adam were working on a plan
1554
01:17:52.339 --> 01:17:55.551
that they were calling
internally Project Fortitude.
1555
01:17:55.551 --> 01:17:59.680
And it was essentially a plan for SoftBank
1556
01:17:59.680 --> 01:18:01.723
to spend about $20 billion
1557
01:18:01.723 --> 01:18:05.519
and become a majority owner of WeWork.
1558
01:18:07.604 --> 01:18:09.606
Because of SoftBank's money
1559
01:18:09.606 --> 01:18:13.443
and a lot of what Masa pushed Adam to do,
1560
01:18:13.443 --> 01:18:16.697
they were spending as if they
were gonna have this deal done
1561
01:18:16.697 --> 01:18:20.033
and bring so much capital to keep growing.
1562
01:18:20.033 --> 01:18:22.661
There was this hole,
this future hole coming,
1563
01:18:22.661 --> 01:18:25.455
that they were gonna need
a lot more capital to fill it.
1564
01:18:27.749 --> 01:18:29.585
SCOTT:
This was a company that was burning,
1565
01:18:29.585 --> 01:18:31.461
at one point,
$100 million a week.
1566
01:18:31.461 --> 01:18:34.423
Think about this, you could buy
two Bombardier Global Expresses
1567
01:18:34.423 --> 01:18:38.218
at $50 million each,
crash both into a mountain,
1568
01:18:38.218 --> 01:18:40.888
and that was the burn
every week of this company.
1569
01:18:42.514 --> 01:18:45.601
MAUREEN: And so kind of everything was
working towards this goal
1570
01:18:45.601 --> 01:18:47.811
of this SoftBank partnership.
1571
01:18:49.229 --> 01:18:51.440
- There's something called
the Nantucket Sleigh Ride,
1572
01:18:51.440 --> 01:18:53.859
which is, when you harpoon a whale,
1573
01:18:53.859 --> 01:18:57.487
you're supposed to bring him to the ship,
but occasionally a Nantucket Sleigh Ride
1574
01:18:57.487 --> 01:19:00.115
is when the whale takes you out to sea
and you're stuck.
1575
01:19:00.115 --> 01:19:03.827
You gotta ride that whale out
even if that whale takes you to Greenland.
1576
01:19:03.827 --> 01:19:07.122
Adam clearly thought he was taking Masa
on a Nantucket Sleigh Ride,
1577
01:19:07.122 --> 01:19:09.875
and that SoftBank had already
committed so much money,
1578
01:19:09.875 --> 01:19:12.878
they were already in,
that they were kind of stuck.
1579
01:19:12.878 --> 01:19:14.796
And so the way Adam
was running the company,
1580
01:19:14.796 --> 01:19:16.757
it was the assumption that
1581
01:19:16.757 --> 01:19:20.844
he had an infinite supply
of billions to keep growing.
1582
01:19:20.844 --> 01:19:23.764
- Adam had been convinced
earlier in the month
1583
01:19:23.764 --> 01:19:25.432
that this was gonna happen
1584
01:19:25.432 --> 01:19:28.435
and the people doing the deal
were essentially done.
1585
01:19:28.435 --> 01:19:32.022
It was pencils down on sort of
December 24 at WeWork.
1586
01:19:32.022 --> 01:19:33.607
Everyone expected it was gonna happen.
1587
01:19:34.399 --> 01:19:37.528
[phone buzzing]
1588
01:19:38.737 --> 01:19:40.656
MAUREEN:
And then Adam
1589
01:19:40.656 --> 01:19:43.325
gets a call from Masa on Christmas Eve,
1590
01:19:43.325 --> 01:19:47.329
basically telling him,
"Sorry, I can't go through with it.
1591
01:19:47.329 --> 01:19:50.374
"The market's working against me.
Investors don't like it.
1592
01:19:50.374 --> 01:19:52.000
We just can't make it work right now."
1593
01:19:53.836 --> 01:19:56.213
RANDALL: When Masa decides
he's not gonna put that money in,
1594
01:19:56.213 --> 01:20:00.467
Adam Neumann had a problem,
because he had nowhere else to go.
1595
01:20:00.467 --> 01:20:02.803
Nobody else is gonna
write him a check because
1596
01:20:02.803 --> 01:20:04.638
everyone knows SoftBank has the money.
1597
01:20:04.638 --> 01:20:07.766
So if SoftBank's not putting in more
money, there must be a problem.
1598
01:20:10.644 --> 01:20:12.729
MAUREEN:
Like it or not,
1599
01:20:12.729 --> 01:20:16.191
they're going to need more money somehow.
1600
01:20:16.191 --> 01:20:18.277
♪ suspenseful music playing ♪
1601
01:20:18.277 --> 01:20:21.655
[surf and wind roaring]
1602
01:20:21.655 --> 01:20:23.115
- It's really funny, I've been looking,
1603
01:20:23.115 --> 01:20:25.450
I've been watching the press
around this last fundraise
1604
01:20:25.450 --> 01:20:27.077
and I actually think it's hilarious
1605
01:20:27.077 --> 01:20:29.788
because for some reason
there was an expectation
1606
01:20:29.788 --> 01:20:33.667
that there was gonna be
like a $20 billion or $16 billion raise.
1607
01:20:33.667 --> 01:20:36.044
It's a $6 billion raise.
1608
01:20:36.044 --> 01:20:40.048
It's the second largest
venture capital investment of all time.
1609
01:20:40.048 --> 01:20:43.302
I'm an investor in Uber
so I know what the first largest one was.
1610
01:20:43.302 --> 01:20:45.095
It's the second largest of all time.
1611
01:20:45.095 --> 01:20:47.055
It's SoftBank coming into this company.
1612
01:20:47.055 --> 01:20:49.516
Now they have $10 billion
invested in this company.
1613
01:20:49.516 --> 01:20:51.643
So the notion that anybody is projecting
1614
01:20:51.643 --> 01:20:53.937
that they don't have confidence
in the company I think is crazy.
1615
01:20:53.937 --> 01:20:55.397
I have confidence in the company.
1616
01:20:55.397 --> 01:20:58.400
- First of all, thank you,
Ashton, it's amazing.
1617
01:20:58.400 --> 01:21:00.152
ELIOT BROWN:
After the collapse of the deal,
1618
01:21:00.152 --> 01:21:03.822
they're out there trying
to put this really good face on.
1619
01:21:03.822 --> 01:21:06.575
He brings along Ashton Kutcher
as this pump-up guy.
1620
01:21:06.575 --> 01:21:09.953
And it was really disingenuous.
1621
01:21:09.953 --> 01:21:13.332
- It's above and beyond what we need
to fund the company for the next...
1622
01:21:13.332 --> 01:21:14.833
HOST: Okay.
- ...four to five years.
1623
01:21:14.833 --> 01:21:18.587
ELIOT: Adam was saying things
that were completely false.
1624
01:21:18.587 --> 01:21:21.590
WeWork was currently a bonfire of cash
1625
01:21:21.590 --> 01:21:24.676
and was gonna run out of money
by the end of the year.
1626
01:21:24.676 --> 01:21:26.762
- The interesting thing
about the investment,
1627
01:21:26.762 --> 01:21:28.847
there's a lot of rumors
and there's what happened.
1628
01:21:28.847 --> 01:21:31.475
The most important thing is,
when Masa called me and said,
1629
01:21:31.475 --> 01:21:33.143
"You know, this has happened
and that happened
1630
01:21:33.143 --> 01:21:34.520
and the world is changing,"
1631
01:21:34.520 --> 01:21:37.648
the first thing he said is, "I'm calling
you to share this as a partner.
1632
01:21:37.648 --> 01:21:39.775
And I just wanted to come up
with a solution together."
1633
01:21:39.775 --> 01:21:41.985
- Because that deal didn't happen,
does that change your thoughts
1634
01:21:41.985 --> 01:21:43.737
on an IPO timeline?
1635
01:21:43.737 --> 01:21:46.031
- Just so we-- we keep saying
"did not happen," just so we're clear.
1636
01:21:46.031 --> 01:21:47.241
We never signed the deal.
1637
01:21:47.241 --> 01:21:49.034
It's not that we signed
the deal and something happened.
1638
01:21:49.034 --> 01:21:51.828
We were trying to figure out
the best way to do it.
1639
01:21:51.828 --> 01:21:54.998
But, no, regarding an IPO,
it's always been an option.
1640
01:21:54.998 --> 01:21:57.417
We are ready for an IPO.
1641
01:21:57.417 --> 01:22:01.421
- You are ready?
- WeWork is always ready for an IPO.
1642
01:22:01.421 --> 01:22:03.173
We will choose the right time to do it
1643
01:22:03.173 --> 01:22:04.967
when it's correct
for the mission of the company.
1644
01:22:04.967 --> 01:22:06.969
- What are you looking for?
1645
01:22:06.969 --> 01:22:09.221
- I want to elevate
the world's consciousness.
1646
01:22:09.221 --> 01:22:11.473
- Okay, so when you do that,
then you can go public?
1647
01:22:11.473 --> 01:22:12.724
- It's not one or the other.
1648
01:22:12.724 --> 01:22:14.852
When I feel that to achieve that mission,
1649
01:22:14.852 --> 01:22:17.938
going public will help it,
that will be the day.
1650
01:22:21.775 --> 01:22:23.819
INTERVIEWER:
Were you anticipating
1651
01:22:23.819 --> 01:22:26.071
WeWork's S1 when it came out?
1652
01:22:26.071 --> 01:22:29.074
- No. I remember I was
on vacation, it was in August,
1653
01:22:29.074 --> 01:22:30.909
and I remember telling my family
1654
01:22:30.909 --> 01:22:33.078
when someone sent me a link to it,
1655
01:22:33.078 --> 01:22:35.080
and I started reading the first few pages,
1656
01:22:35.080 --> 01:22:37.875
I said, "I apologize.
I'm out for the weekend,"
1657
01:22:37.875 --> 01:22:41.044
because this was just too good
and I needed to read through this.
1658
01:22:41.044 --> 01:22:43.380
It felt more like a, uh...
1659
01:22:43.380 --> 01:22:45.924
a novel written by someone
who was shrooming
1660
01:22:45.924 --> 01:22:47.467
than an S1.
1661
01:22:48.594 --> 01:22:50.679
RANDALL:
An S1 is a form you have to fill out
1662
01:22:50.679 --> 01:22:52.556
that's a precursor to going public.
1663
01:22:53.599 --> 01:22:56.935
It's a first introduction
to your company, to the world,
1664
01:22:56.935 --> 01:22:59.855
where you're representing
that these are the facts.
1665
01:22:59.855 --> 01:23:03.650
But that means you've gotta come clean,
and there are a lot of details in there,
1666
01:23:04.067 --> 01:23:07.362
and in WeWork's case,
the devil was in the details.
1667
01:23:08.697 --> 01:23:10.908
- So the first red flag was on page one.
1668
01:23:10.908 --> 01:23:13.118
It says, "We dedicate this
to the energy of We --
1669
01:23:13.118 --> 01:23:16.163
greater than any one of us
but inside each of us."
1670
01:23:16.163 --> 01:23:18.832
I mean, for God sakes,
they're renting fucking desks.
1671
01:23:18.832 --> 01:23:21.877
ELIOT: I was actually on vacation
in the middle of Austria,
1672
01:23:21.877 --> 01:23:23.754
hiking with some friends,
1673
01:23:23.754 --> 01:23:26.673
and then I get to a place
where there's a little service.
1674
01:23:26.673 --> 01:23:28.175
[bird chirps, phone chimes]
1675
01:23:28.175 --> 01:23:30.677
I just start getting
these texts and emails,
1676
01:23:30.677 --> 01:23:32.387
and it's like "WTF."
1677
01:23:32.387 --> 01:23:34.598
And like, "Oh, my God!"
1678
01:23:34.598 --> 01:23:36.517
And I was like,
"I think I know what happened."
1679
01:23:38.268 --> 01:23:40.062
MAUREEN:
Almost everyone you talked to
1680
01:23:40.062 --> 01:23:44.858
had a different item
that horrified them. [laughs]
1681
01:23:44.858 --> 01:23:46.610
So like one by one, they would say,
1682
01:23:46.610 --> 01:23:49.696
"I cannot believe his wife
is choosing his successor,"
1683
01:23:49.696 --> 01:23:53.867
or, "So egregious that he would
have these 20-1 voting shares."
1684
01:23:53.867 --> 01:23:57.829
Or, "I can't believe the company
is paying him $6 million
1685
01:23:57.829 --> 01:24:02.543
for the trademark to the word 'we'
in the company name."
1686
01:24:02.543 --> 01:24:04.670
DEREK:
He was buying buildings,
1687
01:24:04.670 --> 01:24:07.548
and then asking WeWork
1688
01:24:07.548 --> 01:24:09.633
to lease those buildings from him.
1689
01:24:09.633 --> 01:24:13.053
And then he took $700 million
out of this company
1690
01:24:13.053 --> 01:24:17.266
at the very time he was asking the public
to put money in the company.
1691
01:24:17.266 --> 01:24:19.393
- With many of these unicorn IPOs,
1692
01:24:19.393 --> 01:24:22.646
the CO is mentioned anywhere
between 12 and 40 times.
1693
01:24:22.646 --> 01:24:26.441
In the case of Adam Neumann,
it was 170 times.
1694
01:24:26.441 --> 01:24:27.776
[computer key clicking]
1695
01:24:27.776 --> 01:24:29.987
If you tell a 30-something male
1696
01:24:29.987 --> 01:24:34.116
that he's Jesus Christ,
he's inclined to believe you.
1697
01:24:34.116 --> 01:24:36.410
ELIOT:
Rebekah is very involved
1698
01:24:36.410 --> 01:24:39.288
in the part of the document
that people laughed at,
1699
01:24:39.288 --> 01:24:41.999
and they were spending
a lot of time in the Hamptons.
1700
01:24:41.999 --> 01:24:45.669
And they had this sort of constant string
of WeWork employees
1701
01:24:45.669 --> 01:24:49.089
who would get a seaplane or helicopter
to go out to the Hamptons
1702
01:24:49.089 --> 01:24:51.800
just to meet with them on some IPO stuff.
1703
01:24:51.800 --> 01:24:53.927
You just keep reading it and be like,
1704
01:24:53.927 --> 01:24:56.972
"Oh, my God, did anyone pr--
like, look at this
1705
01:24:56.972 --> 01:24:59.308
and tell them what
it was gonna look like?"
1706
01:24:59.308 --> 01:25:01.685
The reality is that, like, people
had been telling Adam that for a while
1707
01:25:01.685 --> 01:25:03.770
but he didn't care; he thought
that people would look past it
1708
01:25:03.770 --> 01:25:05.689
or he wanted to enrich himself
1709
01:25:05.689 --> 01:25:08.066
and thought that
it wouldn't be a big deal.
1710
01:25:11.153 --> 01:25:14.281
Meanwhile, he was around WeWork less.
1711
01:25:14.281 --> 01:25:16.992
He went on a month-long
birthday celebration
1712
01:25:16.992 --> 01:25:20.621
where he went to the Maldives to surf.
1713
01:25:20.621 --> 01:25:23.081
You know, I think generally he was seen
1714
01:25:23.081 --> 01:25:26.376
as more erratic and nervous and...
1715
01:25:26.376 --> 01:25:28.128
in hindsight,
he probably had a view
1716
01:25:28.128 --> 01:25:30.255
that maybe this has gone too far.
1717
01:25:33.217 --> 01:25:36.845
Him going surfing was a way
of avoiding reality...
1718
01:25:38.764 --> 01:25:41.767
and keeping the high life
going as much as he could.
1719
01:25:44.770 --> 01:25:48.398
COMMENTATOR 1: This company has
just been savaged after its S1 came out.
1720
01:25:48.398 --> 01:25:51.276
COMMENTATOR 2: The price has
come down and down and down.
1721
01:25:51.276 --> 01:25:54.863
COMMENTATOR 3:
$47 billion dropped down to 10 to 15.
1722
01:25:54.863 --> 01:25:56.573
COMMENTATOR 4:
Every day now they're trying to come up
1723
01:25:56.573 --> 01:25:59.076
with something to salvage this IPO,
and I don't know if they're gonna do it.
1724
01:26:00.369 --> 01:26:01.828
- We'll clean it up. I think we're great,
1725
01:26:01.828 --> 01:26:03.956
and I think we're preparing
for the roadshow right now.
1726
01:26:03.956 --> 01:26:05.415
Just hope my hair is good.
1727
01:26:05.415 --> 01:26:07.918
WOMAN: Your hair looks great.
- Okay.
1728
01:26:07.918 --> 01:26:09.753
This is harder than 20-foot waves.
1729
01:26:09.753 --> 01:26:11.588
MAN: [laughing] I get it.
- You know why?
1730
01:26:11.588 --> 01:26:13.799
'Cause I control the 20-foot waves.
1731
01:26:13.799 --> 01:26:16.760
[laughter, woman responding indistinctly]
1732
01:26:16.760 --> 01:26:19.263
I'll take a 20-foot wave...
1733
01:26:19.263 --> 01:26:21.515
every day for the next 10 days.
1734
01:26:22.933 --> 01:26:25.310
MAN: I'm scared of drowning
just thinking about it.
1735
01:26:25.310 --> 01:26:26.603
- All right.
1736
01:26:28.522 --> 01:26:32.067
Real estate is going
through a fundamental shift.
1737
01:26:32.067 --> 01:26:34.611
From a "fixed cost per seat" commodity...
1738
01:26:34.611 --> 01:26:36.154
MAUREEN:
The world was kind of up in arms
1739
01:26:36.154 --> 01:26:40.659
about how egregious this company was.
1740
01:26:40.659 --> 01:26:43.287
But Adam had to go public anyway.
1741
01:26:43.287 --> 01:26:45.873
- ...have a 12-year headstart.
1742
01:26:45.873 --> 01:26:48.000
- There's a two-week period you start
1743
01:26:48.000 --> 01:26:50.502
marketing your shares
officially to investors.
1744
01:26:50.502 --> 01:26:52.880
It's called a roadshow.
1745
01:26:52.880 --> 01:26:55.883
Kind of like a central part
of the roadshow
1746
01:26:55.883 --> 01:26:58.010
is a video that goes along with it.
1747
01:26:58.010 --> 01:27:02.514
So, they had filmed
portions of it already.
1748
01:27:02.514 --> 01:27:05.809
So theoretically he was just
gonna do his part of it,
1749
01:27:05.809 --> 01:27:07.644
they can edit it in.
1750
01:27:07.644 --> 01:27:10.189
- Fixed cost commodity,
fixed cost commodity.
1751
01:27:10.189 --> 01:27:11.440
Fixed cost commodity...
1752
01:27:11.440 --> 01:27:13.650
ELIOT:
Adam kept delaying,
1753
01:27:13.650 --> 01:27:17.779
and even literally would leave
rooms full of people
1754
01:27:17.779 --> 01:27:20.282
waiting, set up for him to come.
1755
01:27:20.282 --> 01:27:24.703
They spent hundreds of thousand dollars
on shoots that Adam didn't go to.
1756
01:27:27.956 --> 01:27:29.541
WOMAN:
That one sounded great.
1757
01:27:29.541 --> 01:27:30.959
- Thank you.
1758
01:27:30.959 --> 01:27:33.295
MAUREEN: It seems kind of,
like, it's procrastination,
1759
01:27:33.295 --> 01:27:35.339
but, you know, was there something deeper,
1760
01:27:35.339 --> 01:27:38.634
I don't know, of why you don't
show up to film this thing?
1761
01:27:40.177 --> 01:27:45.098
Finally they start filming him,
but that day he was just off.
1762
01:27:45.098 --> 01:27:46.517
- Just a second.
1763
01:27:46.517 --> 01:27:48.936
Zack, you need the sentences
to be full for me.
1764
01:27:48.936 --> 01:27:50.854
So whenever you have
a dead space like this,
1765
01:27:50.854 --> 01:27:52.523
put that up there.
1766
01:27:52.523 --> 01:27:55.150
- In general, he's an incredible speaker
if you see him,
1767
01:27:55.150 --> 01:27:56.652
but he can't really
read off a teleprompter.
1768
01:27:56.652 --> 01:27:58.237
He struggles with that.
1769
01:27:58.237 --> 01:28:00.697
- Yeah, the reason
it's a little hard for me is,
1770
01:28:00.697 --> 01:28:03.075
I'm not a guy who reads
from a script, that's the thing.
1771
01:28:03.075 --> 01:28:05.494
To do it totally free, though,
I need to, I can't...
1772
01:28:05.494 --> 01:28:08.747
I'm doing word-for-word so I'm gonna
need to loosen it up a little bit.
1773
01:28:08.747 --> 01:28:10.624
MAUREEN:
And I think as the day wore on,
1774
01:28:10.624 --> 01:28:13.377
it just went on and on and on and on.
1775
01:28:13.377 --> 01:28:15.212
And he seemed more frazzled
1776
01:28:15.212 --> 01:28:17.714
and wasn't getting through it
and wasn't making sense.
1777
01:28:17.714 --> 01:28:19.299
- Based on our savor...
1778
01:28:19.299 --> 01:28:22.302
Agh! Ugh! Let's go.
1779
01:28:22.302 --> 01:28:25.430
MAUREEN:
It became somewhat like a party.
1780
01:28:25.430 --> 01:28:27.599
It just almost like
devolved the whole night.
1781
01:28:27.599 --> 01:28:31.270
- The employees of all companies
all need the same thing.
1782
01:28:31.270 --> 01:28:33.730
Wellness, food.
1783
01:28:33.730 --> 01:28:37.276
MAUREEN: He just didn't do
a good job by everyone there.
1784
01:28:37.276 --> 01:28:40.404
And I think a lot of people who
were there were quite stressed.
1785
01:28:40.404 --> 01:28:42.865
They're like, "This has to get done.
We're supposed to do this tomorrow."
1786
01:28:43.949 --> 01:28:47.828
It's almost like,
this is your worst nightmare.
1787
01:28:47.828 --> 01:28:50.622
- This is who I am. This is what I do.
1788
01:28:50.622 --> 01:28:53.917
I tackle something until it's right.
1789
01:28:53.917 --> 01:28:55.669
I will not stop.
1790
01:28:58.422 --> 01:29:00.632
This is what no one's
understanding right now,
1791
01:29:00.632 --> 01:29:03.343
but it's okay because
we'll make sure they learn.
1792
01:29:06.180 --> 01:29:08.223
ELIOT:
And then the next morning,
1793
01:29:08.223 --> 01:29:11.268
they decide...
"No, it's just not gonna happen.
1794
01:29:11.268 --> 01:29:13.020
We need to call it off."
1795
01:29:17.441 --> 01:29:19.776
MAUREEN:
Adam came in to WeWork's office.
1796
01:29:19.776 --> 01:29:22.613
He comes in, he's more
dressed up than usual.
1797
01:29:22.613 --> 01:29:25.282
And gives an all-hands talk.
1798
01:29:25.282 --> 01:29:29.119
And there he basically told all the staff,
1799
01:29:29.119 --> 01:29:30.579
"This doesn't mean the IPO's off.
1800
01:29:30.579 --> 01:29:33.457
"Like, we're gonna come back
and this is gonna be amazing
1801
01:29:33.457 --> 01:29:37.002
and, um, we will do
an IPO later this year."
1802
01:29:37.002 --> 01:29:40.380
But like everything behind the scenes
was beginning to happen
1803
01:29:40.380 --> 01:29:42.424
to start to oust him.
1804
01:29:45.385 --> 01:29:47.721
ELIOT:
At the time, it was less known
1805
01:29:47.721 --> 01:29:51.350
that Adam was this totally erratic CEO
1806
01:29:51.350 --> 01:29:53.268
that had sort of messianic statements
1807
01:29:53.268 --> 01:29:56.605
and was doing things in a way
that a lot of people would call crazy.
1808
01:29:56.605 --> 01:30:01.276
Uh, and so we basically
laid that out in a story.
1809
01:30:02.611 --> 01:30:05.489
The signature anecdote to the thing
that probably got the most attention
1810
01:30:05.489 --> 01:30:10.244
was about how he took
a plane trip with friends to Israel,
1811
01:30:10.244 --> 01:30:11.995
and they were smoking pot on the plane,
1812
01:30:11.995 --> 01:30:15.374
and then in Israel
they didn't finish all the pot
1813
01:30:15.374 --> 01:30:17.209
and so they stuffed some in a cereal box.
1814
01:30:18.293 --> 01:30:21.255
The crew on the plane finds it
and is sort of incensed.
1815
01:30:22.923 --> 01:30:24.550
And so they recall the plane.
1816
01:30:24.550 --> 01:30:27.427
Uh, and so then Adam has to find
his own way back from Israel.
1817
01:30:30.222 --> 01:30:32.015
SCOTT:
When you can land
1818
01:30:32.015 --> 01:30:34.893
two rockets concurrently
on barges and you smoke pot,
1819
01:30:34.893 --> 01:30:38.105
you're seen as quirky and likable.
1820
01:30:38.105 --> 01:30:41.108
When you don't go public
and your investors lose money,
1821
01:30:41.108 --> 01:30:45.279
all of a sudden they decide that
smoking pot is a criminal activity.
1822
01:30:45.279 --> 01:30:48.073
MAUREEN:
Once Eliot's article came out,
1823
01:30:48.073 --> 01:30:50.117
he became pretty much
untouchable on Wall Street.
1824
01:30:51.577 --> 01:30:53.871
And so, he made
the decision to step down
1825
01:30:53.871 --> 01:30:56.790
at, like, the urging
of a lot of different people.
1826
01:30:59.042 --> 01:31:02.004
- Adam Neumann is expected
to step down as...
1827
01:31:02.004 --> 01:31:04.506
NEWS ANCHOR: The company went
from a $47 billion valuation
1828
01:31:04.506 --> 01:31:06.341
to near bankruptcy in just six weeks.
1829
01:31:06.341 --> 01:31:08.302
- The future of the company
very uncertain at this point.
1830
01:31:08.302 --> 01:31:14.016
AUGUST: When I first heard about
WeWork's financial collapse,
1831
01:31:14.016 --> 01:31:18.562
I honestly did feel really, really sad
1832
01:31:18.562 --> 01:31:20.147
for Adam.
1833
01:31:21.773 --> 01:31:26.153
Because it felt like he believed
in what he was doing
1834
01:31:26.153 --> 01:31:29.615
with every fiber of his being.
1835
01:31:29.615 --> 01:31:31.950
NEWS ANCHOR:
WeWork now is suddenly in decline,
1836
01:31:31.950 --> 01:31:35.120
the office-sharing company's
new financial lifeline
1837
01:31:35.120 --> 01:31:37.789
giving its controversial
co-founder Adam Neumann
1838
01:31:37.789 --> 01:31:40.792
a $1.7 billion payout to step down
1839
01:31:40.792 --> 01:31:44.588
while the troubled company's
reportedly planning massive layoffs.
1840
01:31:46.340 --> 01:31:50.093
AUGUST: When I started to learn
a little bit more about it,
1841
01:31:50.093 --> 01:31:52.137
um...
1842
01:31:52.137 --> 01:31:54.723
that sadness
1843
01:31:54.723 --> 01:31:57.476
turned to anger pretty quickly.
1844
01:31:57.476 --> 01:31:59.728
Because...
1845
01:31:59.728 --> 01:32:04.441
now all of a sudden,
it felt like this person
1846
01:32:04.441 --> 01:32:07.319
lied to me, lied to a bunch of people,
1847
01:32:07.319 --> 01:32:10.531
about this beautiful way of working
1848
01:32:10.531 --> 01:32:12.574
and this beautiful way of living.
1849
01:32:12.574 --> 01:32:15.953
I felt angry at him
1850
01:32:15.953 --> 01:32:18.914
for doing that, but also felt angry at me
1851
01:32:18.914 --> 01:32:20.832
for, like, buying the bullshit.
1852
01:32:22.835 --> 01:32:28.549
And when they started laying people off,
the anger switched to rage.
1853
01:32:29.633 --> 01:32:32.427
DON: It seemed like WeThis,
WeGrow, WeLive, WeWork.
1854
01:32:32.427 --> 01:32:33.971
We-we-we-we-we.
1855
01:32:33.971 --> 01:32:35.973
You know, it's gotta be we, not me.
1856
01:32:35.973 --> 01:32:39.852
It was we for everybody, except for Adam.
1857
01:32:39.852 --> 01:32:44.898
MAUREEN: He got a golden
parachute worth $1.7 billion.
1858
01:32:44.898 --> 01:32:48.819
The idea that there would be
all this money given to Adam
1859
01:32:48.819 --> 01:32:51.154
was demoralizing.
1860
01:32:51.154 --> 01:32:53.448
DON: Y ou know, that kind of
sticks in your craw a little bit,
1861
01:32:53.448 --> 01:32:56.451
particularly when you've been
preached at about, "It's all about we."
1862
01:32:56.451 --> 01:32:59.371
If that's your deal
and you're sitting on all this money
1863
01:32:59.371 --> 01:33:01.915
and you really believe
in what you were saying the whole time,
1864
01:33:01.915 --> 01:33:05.127
you should give some of the money back
to help the employees who got screwed.
1865
01:33:07.838 --> 01:33:10.507
MARGARITA: I think what's
frustrating about all of that
1866
01:33:10.507 --> 01:33:14.678
is that, when you focus the story on Adam,
1867
01:33:14.678 --> 01:33:18.348
you miss how many people
worked really, really hard
1868
01:33:18.348 --> 01:33:21.393
to bring this impossible vision to life,
1869
01:33:21.393 --> 01:33:23.812
who got nothing.
1870
01:33:23.812 --> 01:33:25.772
They cared about WeWork a lot.
1871
01:33:25.772 --> 01:33:27.524
They were invested in its success.
1872
01:33:27.524 --> 01:33:30.527
They were invested in the community.
1873
01:33:30.527 --> 01:33:33.947
And they were hurt financially.
1874
01:33:33.947 --> 01:33:35.782
Reputationally.
1875
01:33:35.782 --> 01:33:40.204
Suddenly this company
that they spent years on
1876
01:33:40.204 --> 01:33:42.206
is a laughingstock.
1877
01:33:45.042 --> 01:33:48.170
- My mind was warped
in such a way at WeWork
1878
01:33:48.170 --> 01:33:52.466
that I felt, when I left,
I had to unwarp it.
1879
01:33:54.218 --> 01:33:55.844
They don't care about you.
1880
01:33:55.844 --> 01:33:59.056
You know, like that really,
really messed with me,
1881
01:33:59.056 --> 01:34:01.850
because I thought,
"Who is telling me the truth?"
1882
01:34:03.936 --> 01:34:08.482
I have done a lot of therapy
to like navigate through
1883
01:34:08.482 --> 01:34:09.900
what happened there.
1884
01:34:09.900 --> 01:34:12.736
Why was I so devastated when it ended?
1885
01:34:13.570 --> 01:34:18.033
Why did it feel like,
not that I lost a job,
1886
01:34:18.033 --> 01:34:19.785
but like I lost my purpose?
1887
01:34:21.537 --> 01:34:24.998
Some mind trick has been
played on a lot of us.
1888
01:34:28.293 --> 01:34:32.214
You know, it just...
[crying] ...I think of myself as this...
1889
01:34:33.841 --> 01:34:38.011
younger girl,
and I wanna say to her,
1890
01:34:38.011 --> 01:34:40.180
"You didn't do anything wrong."
1891
01:34:40.180 --> 01:34:42.182
Like, "You're valuable
1892
01:34:42.182 --> 01:34:45.102
and that company is not your worth."
1893
01:34:45.102 --> 01:34:49.398
But because I felt like,
how am I gonna change the world now?
1894
01:34:49.398 --> 01:34:51.441
Like, I needed that.
1895
01:34:55.654 --> 01:34:59.241
AUGUST:
When I look back on my time spent
1896
01:34:59.241 --> 01:35:02.327
in the We community...
1897
01:35:02.327 --> 01:35:05.581
I see all the friends that I made.
1898
01:35:05.581 --> 01:35:08.292
Um, all the relationships
that I still have.
1899
01:35:10.586 --> 01:35:14.089
All the people that I deeply care about.
1900
01:35:14.089 --> 01:35:18.719
The people that I wouldn't have met
outside of the We community.
1901
01:35:18.719 --> 01:35:22.598
Those are the people
that I choose to remember.
1902
01:35:22.598 --> 01:35:24.850
Not...
1903
01:35:24.850 --> 01:35:26.518
the asshole that wrecked it.
1904
01:35:33.817 --> 01:35:36.278
ALEX: You know, people
will see in Adam Neumann
1905
01:35:36.278 --> 01:35:37.905
what they wanna see.
1906
01:35:37.905 --> 01:35:41.533
That may not be the most fulfilling answer
for a lot of people,
1907
01:35:41.533 --> 01:35:45.662
but I do think that he
can represent a lot more
1908
01:35:45.662 --> 01:35:47.289
than what he really is.
1909
01:35:47.289 --> 01:35:49.416
And I think that, you know,
1910
01:35:49.416 --> 01:35:52.711
the reason that maybe
he resonates with people
1911
01:35:52.711 --> 01:35:56.215
is because it felt like he was close.
1912
01:35:59.009 --> 01:36:02.930
Clearly there was something about WeWork
and something about Adam
1913
01:36:02.930 --> 01:36:07.267
where maybe he could have pulled it off.
1914
01:36:09.394 --> 01:36:11.897
It could have come together
into something beautiful.
1915
01:36:14.525 --> 01:36:18.028
But , unfortunately he set an example
1916
01:36:18.028 --> 01:36:21.365
which maybe is harmful for
other entrepreneurs to follow,
1917
01:36:21.365 --> 01:36:25.494
or he's embodied the American dream
in a way that worries us
1918
01:36:25.494 --> 01:36:28.956
because it was so attractive
and it was so intoxicating
1919
01:36:28.956 --> 01:36:31.416
and yet had this disastrous result,
1920
01:36:31.416 --> 01:36:34.002
that that bothers us more
than if he had just been
1921
01:36:34.002 --> 01:36:36.338
a failure with WeWork.
1922
01:36:46.640 --> 01:36:49.184
MEGAN: There's a lot of really
special elements about WeWork
1923
01:36:49.184 --> 01:36:50.352
that...
1924
01:36:52.062 --> 01:36:54.523
I hope continue to last.
1925
01:36:54.523 --> 01:36:57.359
Like especially as we sit
in this time of COVID
1926
01:36:57.359 --> 01:37:00.237
and we're, you know,
people are working from home,
1927
01:37:00.237 --> 01:37:04.157
and, you know,
I, myself, have been inside,
1928
01:37:04.157 --> 01:37:07.661
mostly inside for,
you know, months and months.
1929
01:37:07.661 --> 01:37:11.206
And it is on the days that I get
to interact with other people
1930
01:37:11.206 --> 01:37:14.793
that I come home and I'm like,
"Wow, that was a fulfilling day."
1931
01:37:20.465 --> 01:37:23.886
Community, I think, has been...
1932
01:37:23.886 --> 01:37:26.263
taken piece by piece from our world
1933
01:37:26.263 --> 01:37:28.682
for quite a while, like very slowly,
1934
01:37:28.682 --> 01:37:34.271
and then now here we are sitting
literally in... in a pandemic
1935
01:37:34.271 --> 01:37:40.194
of lack of interaction
and I would give anything to like...
1936
01:37:42.029 --> 01:37:46.116
be consumed with people again.
1937
01:37:52.539 --> 01:37:56.084
The vision of us working together,
1938
01:37:56.084 --> 01:37:59.755
to be better together, is lacking today.
1939
01:38:09.681 --> 01:38:11.433
I think we need that.
1940
01:38:11.433 --> 01:38:16.104
We go back in time
to the Greek town squares.
1941
01:38:16.104 --> 01:38:17.648
It has existed forever.
1942
01:38:17.648 --> 01:38:20.125
Community has existed forever.
1943
01:38:20.125 --> 01:38:24.880
Because it's crucial to
our survival as human beings.
1944
01:38:31.303 --> 01:38:34.736
What are we if we don't have each other?
1945
01:38:34.736 --> 01:38:37.268
♪
1946
01:39:00.291 --> 01:39:02.293
[crowd noises in distance]
1947
01:39:16.974 --> 01:39:19.268
♪ string orchestra playing
contemplative classical music ♪