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March 2, 2020 9:28 AM Subscribe
Rebekah Neumann's Search For Enlightenment Fueled WeWork's Collapse (SL Bustle by MOE TKACIK)
FWIW, WeWork has not collapsed. The IPO collapsed, but WeWork is humming along. To wit: they just announced a new CFO from the fossil fuel industry.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:01 AM on March 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:01 AM on March 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
Man, was that depressing! What awful people!
My real take-away, though, is how essentially corrupt start-up culture is (big shock, of course). None of this would have gotten off the ground if the founders hadn't started with their own wealth (most of which came from a fraudulent mailing company) and hadn't leveraged social and financial connections to get rolling. The whole thing was just a grift - use your money and connections to start something stupid and implausible, probably obviously stupid and implausible to anyone with sense, then frivol away the money on extravagant parties and paychecks and a luxury severance package for the founders. All this stuff is just a racket, rich people using their riches to loot everyone else and dish the results out to themselves.
It just came to me - the marching song of the CND is "Can You Hear the H-Bomb's Thunder", but it would have exactly the right rhythm to be re-written into "Can You Hear the Tumbrels Rolling".
posted by Frowner at 10:01 AM on March 2, 2020 [8 favorites]
My real take-away, though, is how essentially corrupt start-up culture is (big shock, of course). None of this would have gotten off the ground if the founders hadn't started with their own wealth (most of which came from a fraudulent mailing company) and hadn't leveraged social and financial connections to get rolling. The whole thing was just a grift - use your money and connections to start something stupid and implausible, probably obviously stupid and implausible to anyone with sense, then frivol away the money on extravagant parties and paychecks and a luxury severance package for the founders. All this stuff is just a racket, rich people using their riches to loot everyone else and dish the results out to themselves.
It just came to me - the marching song of the CND is "Can You Hear the H-Bomb's Thunder", but it would have exactly the right rhythm to be re-written into "Can You Hear the Tumbrels Rolling".
posted by Frowner at 10:01 AM on March 2, 2020 [8 favorites]
FWIW, WeWork has not collapsed. The IPO collapsed, but WeWork is humming along. To wit: they just announced a new CFO from the fossil fuel industry.
This.
It's so odd to see a dozen breathless accounts of this "collapse" and to then look out my window from my office, where I can see a gigantic WeWork space, where several friends rent offices and to go home and night and look out my window there, where I can see yet another WeWork space, full to the brim, which another friend works out of.... did someone change the definition of collapse while I wasn't looking?
posted by Twinge at 10:27 AM on March 2, 2020 [11 favorites]
This.
It's so odd to see a dozen breathless accounts of this "collapse" and to then look out my window from my office, where I can see a gigantic WeWork space, where several friends rent offices and to go home and night and look out my window there, where I can see yet another WeWork space, full to the brim, which another friend works out of.... did someone change the definition of collapse while I wasn't looking?
posted by Twinge at 10:27 AM on March 2, 2020 [11 favorites]
I kinda wonder how much the hyperbolization of "collapsed" is around people having used an investment by Softbank as a proxy for underlying value, and then projecting the anxiety and emotional impact of that going away onto the business that sublets and lets office space named WeWork.
posted by PMdixon at 10:43 AM on March 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by PMdixon at 10:43 AM on March 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
It seems like for the start-up world that WeWork sprouted in, Jivamukti yoga and Kabbalah Center functioned like the country club golf course. A place where you found your investors and proved that you were the right kind of person. Smart move for a company that sold itself as a "community company" (ugh), being linked with the "conscious capitalism" crowd that swore the "sharing economy" was going to liberate everyone and save the planet. Nevermind the toxic power dynamics.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:45 AM on March 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:45 AM on March 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
It does make GOOP's whole skeevy vibe make more sense. Grift is the family business, and Gwyneth is just carrying on the tradition.
posted by emjaybee at 10:53 AM on March 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 10:53 AM on March 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
So, I don’t know if WeWork can be blamed exactly and it would be impossible for a person like myself to quantify and extrapolate but before WeWork launched in Portland there was a women’s focused version with huge goals of on-site childcare, exceptional client meeting areas and other amenities. They had trouble finding the right space (not that surprising) but at the same time WeWork was snapping up property and starting a marketing blitz well ahead of their opening. At some point the women spearheading the endeavor gave it up. Funding. Location. Money down. It just didn’t come together and I’ve always felt that WeWork coming in crowded them out. WeWork already had the money down so they could snap up and wait. They aren’t offering anything as complicated as on-site childcare so they can fit in marginal spaces. I don’t doubt that these women (who were very well-connected and well-positioned) just didn’t have the backing (and never would) that WeWork had. When we let bad business charge the market, better actors get pushed out or don’t even get a chance.
posted by amanda at 12:04 PM on March 2, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by amanda at 12:04 PM on March 2, 2020 [8 favorites]
Yeah I don't think it's really understood the extent to which funding is a matter of who is buddies with who. It is really divorced from any prospect of either creating value or generating a profit.
posted by PMdixon at 1:17 PM on March 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by PMdixon at 1:17 PM on March 2, 2020 [4 favorites]
Whoa. I had read about how both Adam and Rebekah Neumann were pretty much grifters in the pieces that came about in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of WeWork's IPO. But, I had no idea how much non-WeWork-related grifting was just swirling around Rebekah Neuman: her father's scam charity and tax evasion, Kabbalah Centre, Landmark Forum (which somehow still exists?!), the sketchy collapse of her father & brother-in-law's junk mail business.
posted by mhum at 4:07 PM on March 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by mhum at 4:07 PM on March 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
But if the epidemic of self-delusion surrounding WeWork’s potential can be traced to anyone, it is Rebekah.
I haven’t finished this article, but I’m already fuming how they blame the wife of the the founder and CEO narcissist who created the company, enlisted SoftBank with a leadership that has absolutely fueled this bullshit economic bubble, and f*ing Goldman Sachs Which was doing the trail breaking, Er sorry, in financial terms it’s called valuation, of WeWork.
WeWork is the story of a US economy that is rife with fraud and corruption at a massive level, but yeah, let’s blame the CEO’s wife.
Hopefully this article gets better...
posted by herda05 at 6:35 PM on March 2, 2020 [15 favorites]
I haven’t finished this article, but I’m already fuming how they blame the wife of the the founder and CEO narcissist who created the company, enlisted SoftBank with a leadership that has absolutely fueled this bullshit economic bubble, and f*ing Goldman Sachs Which was doing the trail breaking, Er sorry, in financial terms it’s called valuation, of WeWork.
WeWork is the story of a US economy that is rife with fraud and corruption at a massive level, but yeah, let’s blame the CEO’s wife.
Hopefully this article gets better...
posted by herda05 at 6:35 PM on March 2, 2020 [15 favorites]
I have a million things to say about this.
1. I was afraid Ashton Kutcher would not be mentioned.
2. The Kabbalah Centre, aside from their really problematic appropriation of Jewish tradition, is a cult. This here is a huge red flag: “There are dinners, there are classes, there are trips…when you are in the Kabbalah Centre they don’t leave you time for anything else.” I guess they're gone now? But there are certainly a bunch of offshoots out there to be aware of.
3. I work in tech and the one real startuppy startup I worked at, odd characters would show up for a few weeks at a time and chat with the CEO about things and do some kind of nebulous work, and I always wondered how they even knew each other. Guess what? It was Landmark! I am surprised that Kabbalah Centre didn't see Landmark as competition, but maybe they get some kind of kickback, like Nation of Islam does with Scientology.
4. This article doesn't even get into SoftBank (not actually a bank!) and its visionary founder Masayoshi Son. He has become famous for throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at companies with no track record and no promise of ever having profits on that scale. The best example might be Wag, the gig economy dog walking company! I mean, there's also Zume, the robot pizza company, so memorably chronicled by Matt Levine, who describes Son and the founders he funds outdoing one another in grandiosity:
6. The part about preschoolers being entrepreneurs is so out-of-touch and delusional I don't even know how to think about it, but I promise to keep trying.
posted by chrchr at 6:50 PM on March 2, 2020 [15 favorites]
1. I was afraid Ashton Kutcher would not be mentioned.
2. The Kabbalah Centre, aside from their really problematic appropriation of Jewish tradition, is a cult. This here is a huge red flag: “There are dinners, there are classes, there are trips…when you are in the Kabbalah Centre they don’t leave you time for anything else.” I guess they're gone now? But there are certainly a bunch of offshoots out there to be aware of.
3. I work in tech and the one real startuppy startup I worked at, odd characters would show up for a few weeks at a time and chat with the CEO about things and do some kind of nebulous work, and I always wondered how they even knew each other. Guess what? It was Landmark! I am surprised that Kabbalah Centre didn't see Landmark as competition, but maybe they get some kind of kickback, like Nation of Islam does with Scientology.
4. This article doesn't even get into SoftBank (not actually a bank!) and its visionary founder Masayoshi Son. He has become famous for throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at companies with no track record and no promise of ever having profits on that scale. The best example might be Wag, the gig economy dog walking company! I mean, there's also Zume, the robot pizza company, so memorably chronicled by Matt Levine, who describes Son and the founders he funds outdoing one another in grandiosity:
Just, what a closed loop it is. You run a pizza delivery business. You craft a pitch calculated to convince Masayoshi Son that your pizza delivery business will change the world. You meet with Masayoshi Son. He convinces you that you will change the world. Now you are all believers, all in it together. He hands you piles of money. You go home and weep to your friends, “I am going to change the world.” The friends are like “wait what with the pizzas?” But it is too late for skepticism, you have the money, the robots are in the trucks, they are fanning out across town, the cheese is everywhere, they cannot turn back.5. On preview, herda05 is right that that it's weird to pin this on Rebekah. She's hardly the only terrible person involved here.
6. The part about preschoolers being entrepreneurs is so out-of-touch and delusional I don't even know how to think about it, but I promise to keep trying.
posted by chrchr at 6:50 PM on March 2, 2020 [15 favorites]
FWIW, WeWork has not collapsed.
Not yet at least. Its economics make no sense and without a giant investment exit, it's hard to see how it survives. OTOH we were saying similar things about Uber and they're running along OK now.
posted by Nelson at 7:03 PM on March 2, 2020
Not yet at least. Its economics make no sense and without a giant investment exit, it's hard to see how it survives. OTOH we were saying similar things about Uber and they're running along OK now.
posted by Nelson at 7:03 PM on March 2, 2020
OTOH we were saying similar things about Uber and they're running along OK now.
Yeah, nah, they're haemorrhaging money (August 2019 article).
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:15 PM on March 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
Yeah, nah, they're haemorrhaging money (August 2019 article).
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:15 PM on March 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
"But if the epidemic of self-delusion surrounding WeWork’s potential can be traced to anyone, it is Rebekah."
I was on team "Adam and Rebekah Neumann are terrible human beings" well before this article ran, but the sentence above is insane. I'm sorry, the guy who founded and was running the company was somehow less responsible than his wife for his pyramid scheme's demise?
I didn't exactly expect better of Bustle, which, as a reminder, is a women's site owned and founded by the guy who also started Bleacher Report, a site that became infamous for its sexist content, contributors, and fans.
I did kind of expect better from Moe Tkacik, though.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:08 AM on March 3, 2020
I was on team "Adam and Rebekah Neumann are terrible human beings" well before this article ran, but the sentence above is insane. I'm sorry, the guy who founded and was running the company was somehow less responsible than his wife for his pyramid scheme's demise?
I didn't exactly expect better of Bustle, which, as a reminder, is a women's site owned and founded by the guy who also started Bleacher Report, a site that became infamous for its sexist content, contributors, and fans.
I did kind of expect better from Moe Tkacik, though.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:08 AM on March 3, 2020
And as goes WeWork not having collapsed: aside from the leadership upheaval and the 80% value drop, the company laid off 2,400 employees at the end of last year and chewed up and spat out a number of smaller companies that it had acquired, even as the clown who had been running the circus departed with a billion-dollar going-away present.
So collapsed might not be the exact right word, but it's not as if WeWork has simply been chugging along.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:19 AM on March 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
So collapsed might not be the exact right word, but it's not as if WeWork has simply been chugging along.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:19 AM on March 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was on team "Adam and Rebekah Neumann are terrible human beings" well before this article ran, but the sentence above is insane.
I agree. The only thing I'm really curious about is if she was using him as a bit of a beard. It really, really works. If you can reference a man in conversation in a business setting as supporting your idea, or invent a man to answer customer/client emails or have a man in the room on your side then people give you all kinds of respect and money. He seems pretty gregarious. It's like the guy who looks successful by having a hot, young, pretty thing on his arm. If you have a man on yours, the world is more likely to open doors. Men love to grift with other men.
posted by amanda at 11:12 AM on March 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
I agree. The only thing I'm really curious about is if she was using him as a bit of a beard. It really, really works. If you can reference a man in conversation in a business setting as supporting your idea, or invent a man to answer customer/client emails or have a man in the room on your side then people give you all kinds of respect and money. He seems pretty gregarious. It's like the guy who looks successful by having a hot, young, pretty thing on his arm. If you have a man on yours, the world is more likely to open doors. Men love to grift with other men.
posted by amanda at 11:12 AM on March 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
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Almost like reading an intricate conspiracists flow chart of what secret society cabal is linked with which German industrialist. But it’s about annoying rich celebrities. And it’s true.
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 9:59 AM on March 2, 2020