Neumann and his board met at the Midtown Manhattan offices of JPMorgan to nail down the management shake-up, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Neumann met with the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, and later in the day had dinner with Bruce Dunlevie, a partner at Benchmark Capital and a director of the We Company, to discuss his options. But he did so after he lost the support of some of his key backers, including SoftBank, the Japanese technology giant, which is WeWork’s biggest outside investor. Neumann, who controlled a majority of the shareholder votes, was ultimately the one who decided to step down. The company will conduct a search for a new permanent chief executive, according to four people who asked for anonymity to discuss a delicate subject.Ī WeWork spokeswoman, Gwen Rocco, said in an emailed statement, “There is no search for another chief executive either underway or planned.” WeWork named two current executives, Sebastian Gunningham and Artie Minson, co-chief executives. Neumann will be nonexecutive chairman of WeWork’s parent, the We Company. “Spending too much too soon on unproven business models only heightens the risk that a company’s race for global domination can become a race to oblivion,” said Len Sherman, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and an expert in entrepreneurship. Neumann joins an ignominious club that includes Travis Kalanick, who was ousted as the chief of Uber before he could take it public. Now, with his resignation as chief executive, Mr. Last week, the company decided to delay its offering after bankers and investors signaled that the company might be worth just $15 billion. Neumann’s behavior, and sentiment quickly turned against WeWork. After the company filed its offering documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, investors began scrutinizing its business model and Mr. When it came time to list WeWork on the stock market, this all proved too much for the institutional investors who make or break the fortunes of publicly traded companies. Neumann was highly impulsive - he once banned meat at the company, forcing executives to quickly come up with a rationale for why. He used the company to fund his pet projects, maintained a lavish lifestyle complete with private jets and luxury homes. Neumann, 40, was the company’s charismatic frontman, a towering, hard-partying Israeli with long hair and a penchant for leather jackets and tequila. Neumann that his company could be worth a lot more once its shares traded on the stock market. It attracted a private valuation of $47 billion as recently as January, with top Wall Street bankers telling Mr. WeWork expanded with breakneck speed in recent years, putting co-working locations in dozens of countries and becoming the largest commercial tenant in Manhattan. Neumann, who had enormous control over WeWork and spoke about the company with missionary zeal - he has said the company aimed to “elevate the world’s consciousness.” The announcement marked a swift and stunning fall for Mr. He was under pressure from directors and investors after he led a botched attempt to take the closely watched company public. Neumann to step down as chief executive after a lengthy board meeting on Tuesday. That same mix of ambition and idealism forced Mr. He persuaded investors to give him billions of dollars and employees to believe that the shared-office company was changing the world. Adam Neumann turned WeWork into one of the most valuable start-ups in the world largely through the force of his outsize personality.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |