At 7:12 on a mild late-summer morning in New York City, WeWork’s registration papers hit the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website. The filing, called an S-1, was expected. It was a crucial step in what had been up to that point an exquisitely choreographed march toward an initial public offering for the tech world’s most highly valued start-up.
With its stratospheric $47 billion valuation and preposterously ambitious founder and CEO, Adam Neumann – his goal wasn’t merely to make money, or rent office space, he claimed, but to “change the world” – WeWork had become a glaring symbol of Silicon Valley’s boundless audacity and self-professed exemption from the laws of economics.
In the early morning light, thousands of investors and journalists would get their first real peek at the company’s financial condition and be able to judge for themselves whether WeWork was really, as its founder claimed, on a path toward galactic dominance and unimaginable profit.
Almost immediately, all hell broke loose. A steady stream of rapid-fire headlines detailed Neumann’s self-dealing, mismanagement, and bizarre behavior. Within 33 days the offering was scuttled, WeWork’s valuation plummeted 70% or more, and Neumann, who believed he would become the world’s first trillionaire, was ousted as CEO.What was supposed to be Neumann’s coronation as a visionary became one of the most catastrophically bungled attempted debuts in business history.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. WeWork was a unicorn, a near-invincible powerhouse flush with venture capital. The most brilliant minds in Silicon Valley and the most powerful global investors had shovelled billions of dollars into its coffers – how could it be anything but a sure bet? Validation from public market investors was a mere formality.
More at https://tinyurI.com/y4bcp9v9
With its stratospheric $47 billion valuation and preposterously ambitious founder and CEO, Adam Neumann – his goal wasn’t merely to make money, or rent office space, he claimed, but to “change the world” – WeWork had become a glaring symbol of Silicon Valley’s boundless audacity and self-professed exemption from the laws of economics.
In the early morning light, thousands of investors and journalists would get their first real peek at the company’s financial condition and be able to judge for themselves whether WeWork was really, as its founder claimed, on a path toward galactic dominance and unimaginable profit.
Almost immediately, all hell broke loose. A steady stream of rapid-fire headlines detailed Neumann’s self-dealing, mismanagement, and bizarre behavior. Within 33 days the offering was scuttled, WeWork’s valuation plummeted 70% or more, and Neumann, who believed he would become the world’s first trillionaire, was ousted as CEO.What was supposed to be Neumann’s coronation as a visionary became one of the most catastrophically bungled attempted debuts in business history.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. WeWork was a unicorn, a near-invincible powerhouse flush with venture capital. The most brilliant minds in Silicon Valley and the most powerful global investors had shovelled billions of dollars into its coffers – how could it be anything but a sure bet? Validation from public market investors was a mere formality.
More at https://tinyurI.com/y4bcp9v9
