{"id":11210,"date":"2022-03-05T09:43:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T09:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/2022\/03\/05\/2021-by-the-kellogg-school-of-management-at-northwestern-university\/"},"modified":"2022-11-06T12:15:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T12:15:48","slug":"2021-by-the-kellogg-school-of-management-at-northwestern-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/2021-by-the-kellogg-school-of-management-at-northwestern-university\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a92021 by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KE1182<\/p>\n<p>January 21, 2021<\/p>\n<p>\u00a92021 by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. This case was ready by Professor Sarit Markovich and Evan Meagher \u201909. Circumstances are developed solely as the foundation for sophistication dialogue. Circumstances usually are not supposed to function endorsements, sources of main information, or illustrations of efficient or ineffective administration. Some particulars may need been fictionalized for pedagogical functions. To order copies or request permission to breed supplies, name 800-545-7685 (or 617-783-7600 exterior the United States or Canada) or e-mail custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu. No half of this publication could also be reproduced, saved in a retrieval system, utilized in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any type or by any means\u2014digital, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or in any other case\u2014with out the permission of Kellogg Case Publishing.<\/p>\n<p>S A R I T M A R Okay O V I C H A N D E V A N M E A G H E R<\/p>\n<p>The More durable We Fall: The We Firm\u2019s 2019 IPO Fiasco<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow did you go bankrupt?\u201d Invoice requested. \u201cTwo methods,\u201d Mike mentioned. \u201cRegularly after which immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014Ernest Hemingway, The Solar Additionally Rises<\/p>\n<p>WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann burst onto the stage at Madison Sq. Backyard in January 2019. Earlier than him sat practically 7,000 staff of the quickly rising coworking house landlord, which supplied shared and short-term workplace house and providers principally for startups and freelancers. This quantity was a formidable improve from the firm\u2019s four,000 staff only one yr in the past. Swaggering with the confidence of a rock star and the Zen spirituality of a yoga guru, Neumann quieted the crowd earlier than launching right into a passionate speech extolling the firm\u2019s accomplishments throughout 2018. The vaunted \u201cunicorn\u201d startup* had truly accelerated its progress price in complete membership, workstations, and revenues, which had soared to $1.82 billion. Together with his spouse, Rebekah, serving as WeWork\u2019s chief model officer, Neumann had led the firm\u2019s diversification into adjoining product traces WeGrow (an progressive personal elementary college startup), WeLive (a communal dwelling service), and Powered by We (a design, renovation, and office-management service). 2019 would carry extra of the similar, he promised as staff rose to their ft, cheering.<\/p>\n<p>* A time period coined in 2013 by enterprise capitalist Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures. Unicorns are startups with a post- cash valuation above $1 billion.<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I\u2019m completely satisfied to announce that our most up-to-date fundraise has been a whole success. . . and values our little firm at $47 billion!\u201d The gang roared, however once more, Neumann quieted them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI acquired this name, and it\u2019s  factor,\u201d he continued, turning contemplative. \u201cIt might be a blessing. We raised a smaller quantity, saved our investor base intact . . . It\u2019s a change in technique, however change . . . teaches you. It teaches you classes. It\u2019s  factor.\u201d1<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe actually mentioned, \u2018Our valuation relies on power,\u2019 and everyone simply mentioned, \u2018OK, no matter,\u201d a senior WeWork worker recalled later. \u201cWe went together with it. The way in which every little thing got here collectively, from his power, to his imaginative and prescient, to how people-oriented it was, the camaraderie. We banded collectively, and it was enjoyable. , \u2018band of brothers, we\u2019re in the trenches collectively, the adversity and two-minute miles.\u2019 I give lots of credit score to WeWork. It had Uber\u2019s aggressiveness however Lyft\u2019s coronary heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However simply 9 months later, the firm was backing off its IPO, and Neumann had been forcibly ejected from the firm amid scathing public critiques of his greed and egotism.<\/p>\n<p>WeWork In early 2008, Israeli entrepreneur Adam Neumann discovered himself operating a struggling baby-<\/p>\n<p>attire firm out of an workplace at 68 Jay Road in Brooklyn, New York. Referred to as Krawlers, the enterprise targeted on promoting onesies with padded knees to oldsters with crawling infants.2 \u201cWe have been working in the similar constructing as my co-founder Miguel McKelvey, a lead architect at a small agency. At the time, I used to be misguided and placing my power into all the flawed locations,\u201d Neuman recalled years later in an interview with a enterprise publication.three Recognizing a chance in the vacant house in the constructing, the two teamed up as co-founders of an incubator they known as GreenDesk, providing environmentally pleasant coworking areas with recycled furnishings and sustainably generated electrical energy.four The enterprise took off as GreenDesk rented house from the constructing\u2019s proprietor Joshua Guttman and subleased it at a premium to startups and freelancers. In 2009, Neumann and McKelvey offered GreenDesk to Guttman, incomes \u201ca number of million\u201d in the course of, and launched a extra formidable model of the similar primary enterprise mannequin\u2014this time, with out having to share any revenue with Guttman\u2014as WeWork in 2010.5 The pair raised $15 million\u2014at a $45 million post- cash valuation\u2014from native actual property developer Joel Schreiber. \u201cI didn\u2019t negotiate; I mentioned sure. I liked Adam\u2019s power,\u201d Schreiber mentioned later.6<\/p>\n<p>WeWork thrived, arguably by promoting a extra polished, extra aggressively promissory model of the commonplace coworking house mannequin. Whereas most coworking opponents, reminiscent of Regus, Impression Hub, and Industrious, adopted the same technique of leasing giant workplace buildings and subleasing out smaller parts for a premium, WeWork\u2019s advertising supplies offered a imaginative and prescient of collaboration between various, artistic city professionals. WeWork areas featured beer and kombucha on faucet, frequent social gatherings amongst tenants, and foosball and ping pong tables. \u201cWe&#8217;re altering the means folks work,\u201d Neumann mentioned in 2013. \u201cIt simply occurs to be that we&#8217;d like house to do it in.\u201d7 WeWork commanded premium costs from sublessors\u2014structured not as a lease cost however as a \u2018membership price\u2019\u2014by promising an atmosphere of collaborative innovation whereby D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>three<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>a member firm needing freelance design Help might meet a possible such contractor over commonly scheduled completely satisfied hours, bagel brunches, or yoga lessons. As half of the membership price, WeWork additionally bundled in providers like safety, reception, high-speed web, and printing.<\/p>\n<p>However the actual perk is having different folks round. WeWorkers community at weekly bagel-and- mimosa events, the place they could discover a software program developer to provide an app for them. Members pitch their concepts at casual demo days and get free recommendation throughout workplace hours from keen exterior companions like advert company Wieden+Kennedy. Handshake agreements and job referrals are revamped the wagging tails of members\u2019 canine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDifferent places of work are simply miserable in comparison with right here,\u201d says Nicole Halmi of Neon, an image- choice platform in the WeWork Tenderloin location in San Francisco. \u201cThe outdated mannequin of workplace house is lifeless,\u201d provides startup veteran Gary Mendel, who runs Yopine from a WeWork in the renovated Marvel Bread manufacturing facility in Washington, D.C.eight<\/p>\n<p>The corporate supplied a spread of pricing plans to accommodate everybody from solo proprietors needing solely WiFi and occasional to so-called \u201centerprise\u201d clients (these with greater than 500 staff worldwide) who wanted full-scale-miniature places of work as the first step in nationwide or worldwide growth. As of March 2020, the most elementary membership price solely $45 monthly and included entry to WeWork places of work in 845 open or coming-soon places in 188 cities worldwide. It additionally featured entry to WeWork\u2019s social community, WeWork Commons, which enabled entrepreneurs to work together and change concepts. Precise use of the amenities price a further $50 per day, nonetheless, so it was finest suited to those that have been  primarily in networking and who wanted workplace house solely often.9<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, WeWork\u2019s sudden large international attain purported to supply these bigger enterprise clients\u2014which made up roughly 43% of the firm\u2019s membership base\u2014an awesome deal of flexibility in short-to-medium time period leasing choices abroad. Many nations required the formation of an area, tax-paying entity to execute a industrial lease, a course of that usually proved prohibitively costly given the authorized and tax prices of international entity formation. With WeWork leasing out areas round the globe, bigger firms might merely sublease house from WeWork, bypassing or delaying many of the regulatory frictions historically related to international growth.<\/p>\n<p>To help the neighborhood imaginative and prescient, WeWork supplied a networking utility, The WeWork Member Community, which it described as \u201ca personal, skilled, social community for our members to entry the international neighborhood, in addition to the perks and options of their membership. It\u2019s the finest place to resolve enterprise issues, discover purchasers, and join with different members.\u201d10<\/p>\n<p>Coworking Trade Overview In its S-1 type, dated August 14, 2019, WeWork\u2014freshly renamed the We Firm\u2014<\/p>\n<p>estimated a complete coworking industry addressable market measurement of between $945 billion and $three trillion. This market was unfold throughout the 280 international goal cities the firm had recognized (111 of which it already served, as of June 1, 2019, with plans to develop into 169 extra).11 At the D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>four<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>time, the We Firm estimated it had lower than 1 p.c market share in what it described as a extremely fragmented industry, with each particular person and institutional gamers fulfilling the primary worth proposition of leasing out workplace buildings after which subleasing parts thereof at a premium that, to justify its price, typically included value-added providers reminiscent of safety, high-quality web, and recommendation on fundraising proposals.<\/p>\n<p>The dominant participant previous to WeWork\u2019s meteoric progress was IWG (n\u00e9e Regus), based in 1989 by Mark Dixon, an government who had grown drained of figuring out of resort convention rooms. By WeWork\u2019s reckoning, IWG had lower than three.5% market share, with its 1,284 places producing revenues of $three.2 billion in 2018.12 (The overwhelming majority of these places have been in the United States, its largest and most mature market in 2018, which additionally trailed solely EMEA as its second-fastest-growing market).13 As WeWork flourished, different gamers started to enter the market and maintain themselves out as WeWork options, together with conventional landlords and builders like Boston Properties and Tishman Speyer. \u201cI believe lots of landlords will step in to handle the house if WeWork exits,\u201d mentioned Daniel Lisser, senior director at real-estate brokerage Marcus &amp; Millichap Capital Company, in a 2019 interview with an industry publication. \u201cThey&#8217;ll attempt to be WeWork with out the drama.\u201d14<\/p>\n<p>The expansion of the gig economic system supplied a tailwind to the industry\u2019s 46% compound annual progress price throughout the decade of WeWork\u2019s ascendance. Freelancers, part-time staff, and entrepreneurs flocked to coworking areas and paid premium costs for low-commitment areas that offloaded the burden of workplace administration and upkeep to the coworking house supplier (see Exhibit 1).<\/p>\n<p>Leasing and Areas WeWork initially acquired the workplace house it leased out to members by signing long-term<\/p>\n<p>leases with phrases so long as ten or fifteen years. Because it grew, the firm shifted from leases to co- administration preparations, by which WeWork\u2019s landlord would make a monetary concession or contribution to the buildout or working prices in change for a share of membership revenues or income. (The corporate discovered the most success with this strategy in softer markets, typically abroad, as the pricing in hypercompetitive markets reminiscent of San Francisco or Tokyo made such preparations tougher to rearrange.) As WeWork grew, it discovered it simpler to get landlords to share some of the buildout prices. As well as, the We Firm arrange an actual property funding fund known as ARK to start buying properties outright, with long-term mortgages financing the acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>The corporate selected new places based mostly on their proximity to amenities and companies like espresso outlets, eating places, and gymnasiums. As soon as it had secured a location, WeWork designed that web site to maximise house utilization, minimizing sq. footage per individual whereas nonetheless offering ample frequent areas and assembly rooms. In response to the firm, its use of information from different places of work allowed it to foretell assembly room utilization higher and thereby to design their new places of work extra successfully.15 In contrast with the 250-square-foot house per individual in industrial places of work industry-wide, WeWork\u2019s buildings supplied a median of 50 sq. ft per individual.D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>5<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>WeWork\u2019s buildouts of new areas on common have been accomplished in 9 months, though some buildings have been prepared in as little as 4 months. In response to information analytics agency CB Insights, WeWork\u2019s effectivity in building and design, along with its shopping for energy, lowered the firm\u2019s price of including a brand new desk to $9,504 in September 2017, from $14,144 the yr earlier than.16<\/p>\n<p>Progress and Enlargement WeWork\u2019s geographic progress additionally scaled the providers it supplied its members by way of acquisitions<\/p>\n<p>and partnerships. For instance, WeWork\u2019s retailer supplied members reductions on software program and workplace providers. The corporate\u2019s acquisition of the Flatiron School, a coding boot camp, allowed WeWork to supply members coding programs and applications, and a partnership with on-line private finance firm SoFi supplied WeWork members in the United States a zero.125% price low cost on pupil loans. All of these incentives have been half of the firm\u2019s imaginative and prescient of constructing a WeWork ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>The corporate\u2019s formidable model promise was matched solely by Neumann\u2019s capability to fundraise. By 2014, the firm\u2019s roster of traders included J.P. Morgan Chase &amp; Co, T. Rowe Value Associates, Wellington Management, Goldman Sachs Group, the Harvard Company, Benchmark Capital, and Mortimer Zuckerman, former CEO of Boston Properties\u2014all of whom have been drawn to WeWork\u2019s promise of making a community that enabled entrepreneurs inside in addition to throughout places to work together, change concepts, and collaborate.17 WeWork had joined the ranks of the unicorns with its November 2013 Sequence C, however the firm\u2019s future modified eternally when Neumann met Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of Japanese monetary providers conglomerate SoftBank.<\/p>\n<p>Masayoshi Son and the Imaginative and prescient Fund Born the son of Korean immigrants on the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1957, Son studied<\/p>\n<p>pc science and economics at the University of California Berkeley. Earlier than turning 21, Son had already skilled entrepreneurial success, promoting a translator to Sharp for about $1 million. A couple of years later, he based SoftBank, initially a pc elements retailer that rapidly diversified into publishing, commerce exhibits, and software program. Son took the firm public in 1994 at a valuation of $three billion and have become a holding firm in 1999, with a deal with enterprise capital investing throughout the go-go late 1990s know-how growth. In 2000, Son led an funding right into a Chinese language startup named Alibaba; by the time Alibaba went public in 2014, SoftBank\u2019s $20 million funding was value over $60 billion, a greater than 300,000% return.18<\/p>\n<p>That extraordinary success prompted Son\u2019s most formidable transfer so far: the Could 2017 launch of the $100 billion Imaginative and prescient Fund. The sheer measurement of the fund appeared, to many enterprise market observers, to show the conventional enterprise capital mannequin on its head, because it takes time to place billions and billions of  of capital to work. Son selected a unique strategy: He chosen what he thought-about to be the almost definitely winners in giant and rising markets, and he persuaded their CEOs to maneuver sooner, suppose larger, and deploy extra SoftBank-funded  to achieve escape velocity of their vertical. He referred to this technique as gun-senryaku, Japanese for a flock of birds flying in formation.19D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>6<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>The Imaginative and prescient Fund\u2019s impression on the enterprise market was profound and rapid; by October 2019, it had single-handedly deployed greater than 10% of complete international VC  that yr (see Exhibit 2). The Fund deployed greater than $7 billion into high-flying ridesharing utility Uber in 2017, about as a lot as the complete goal of competitor Sequoia Capital.20 As a result of it takes roughly the similar quantity of effort and time to carry out due diligence on a $20 million funding because it does on a $200 million or $2 billion funding, Son prioritized large bets on firms that by definition have been already or would develop into unicorns upon closing an funding from the Imaginative and prescient Fund. \u201cIt\u2019s actually altering the construction of enterprise fairly basically,\u201d Trinity Ventures normal accomplice Patricia Nakache mentioned in 2018. \u201cI really feel like over the previous three years, the enterprise atmosphere had bifurcated into this world of \u2018haves\u2019 and \u2018have nots,\u2019 the place there are some firms which have struggled to boost cash and a few firms which have been in a position to increase gobs of cash.\u201d21 These so-called \u201cmega-rounds\u201d typically included secondary parts, whereby founders and staff might promote shares that they had acquired through exercising low-priced worker choices. This allowed founders to get liquidity for his or her possession with out the burden of going public, incentivizing them to stay personal and due to this fact to keep away from the public markets\u2019 extra rigorous reporting necessities. It additionally prompted a rise in M&amp;A exercise, as firms with overflowing warfare chests pursued progress at any worth, typically selecting to develop by way of acquisitions quite than organically. WeWork was no stranger to this technique, buying greater than 20 firms from 2017 to 2019 (see Exhibit three). Solely barely greater than half of these associated to WeWork\u2019s core enterprise proposition, a pattern that grew much more pronounced after SoftBank\u2019s first funding into the firm.<\/p>\n<p>Son and Neumann first met at an occasion known as Startup India in January 2016; Neumann had agreed to talk at the occasion in change for a chance to talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to debate WeWork\u2019s growth into the nation. Son and Neumann dined collectively that evening, however Son handed on a $750 million financing spherical two months later, which was as a substitute led by Chinese language enterprise capital agency Hony Capital. By December, nonetheless, Son had reached again out to Neumann to schedule a tour of WeWork\u2019s headquarters in Manhattan. Son arrived hours late and mentioned he had simply 12 minutes to listen to the WeWork story. The 2 continued the frantic dialog in the again seat of Son\u2019s trip to the airport, throughout which Son sketched out the phrases for a $four.four billion Sequence G funding that might worth the firm at over $21 billion. With the extraordinary sums of capital got here extraordinary expectations; Son in contrast assembly Neumann to the feeling he acquired assembly Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, with the clear implication that Neumann can be anticipated to ship related returns.22 The stress for progress elevated exponentially, with staff reporting that Son\u2019s insistence on accelerating progress made Neumann extra impetuous. One government recalled the WeWork founder coming back from a gathering with Son, upset as a result of Son had advised him that he wasn\u2019t rising the firm rapidly sufficient.23<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Son] believed that 9 girls might make a child in a single month,\u201d the senior WeWork worker mentioned later. \u201c\u2018Amazon took 15 years? Let\u2019s do it in 5.\u2019 However constructing nice companies takes time. It\u2019s a course of. It\u2019s an evolution. And of all the folks in the world, to inform that to [Neumann] was going to provide a supercharged final result. [Neumann] was all the time speaking about \u2018progress, progress, progress\u2019\u2014so giving him a billion , and asking him to go even sooner had large downstream results on incentives and habits, all the means all the way down to the most junior worker.\u201d24D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>7<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s When Issues Obtained Shaky\u201d By the finish of 2018, WeWork was the toast of Silicon Valley. At Son\u2019s urging, Neumann had<\/p>\n<p>repositioned WeWork as a know-how platform, noting the vastly richer income multiples that know-how firms obtain from public markets than do actual property firms. Neumann promised, for instance, to outfit WeWork flooring with sensors that would monetize Assessment of tenant exercise utilizing synthetic intelligence. WeWork then started increasing its choices, buying firms and opening new companies that spanned a spread of industries and markets. It established Rise by We, a luxurious gymnasium providing in a Manhattan-based WeWork house; WeGrow, a personal elementary college led by Rebekah Neumann; and WeLive, a co-living enterprise that tried to duplicate WeWork\u2019s success in industrial actual property with the same turnkey product for communal residences.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Neumann\u2019s free-spending methods turned notorious inside the firm. He overcame delicate pushback from the board to buy a top-of-the-line Gulfstream G650ER personal jet for $63 million and insisted on first-class workplace house in the newly opened Salesforce Tower for WeWork\u2019s San Francisco workplace. Prices for the buildout exceeded $550 a sq. foot, which was about 3 times the quantity WeWork normally spent renovating an workplace.25 (By late 2019, it had surpassed $800.)26 Staff reported that they might obtain Neumann\u2019s mantra from the early days of WeWork\u2014\u2018Activate the House,\u2019 which as soon as meant throw a celebration so the coworking house would look full of life whereas Neumann pitched early traders\u2014and immediately the workplace can be fully revamped. \u201cThe subsequent day, one workplace is painted pink, and it has a $three,000 couch in it, and everybody simply knew, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s going to be Rebekah\u2019s workplace.\u2019 And he or she can be there for like two days,\u201d the senior WeWork worker recalled.27<\/p>\n<p>To take care of that tempo of spending, Son and Neumann had agreed to construction a $20 billion buyout of all of WeWork\u2019s early traders, granting SoftBank majority management over the firm and permitting WeWork to develop whereas avoiding the regulatory scrutiny that an IPO would entail. A lot of it could hinge on the blessing of Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who, with $45 billion, was the Imaginative and prescient Fund\u2019s largest backer. The revelation, on October three, 2018, that the Saudi Arabian dissident and Washington Put up reporter Jamal Khashoggi had been murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul put the deal on maintain; the crime was nearly instantly traced again to bin Salman, making a public relations nightmare for the Imaginative and prescient Fund. Quickly afterward, SoftBank\u2019s inventory fell by greater than 20%, or roughly $20 billion in worth. \u201cWe need to see these accountable [for Khashoggi\u2019s murder] held accountable,\u201d Son mentioned throughout SoftBank\u2019s quarterly earnings name a month later. \u201cHowever at the similar time, we have now additionally accepted accountability to the folks of Saudi Arabia, an obligation we take fairly severely, to Help them handle their monetary sources and diversify their economic system.\u201d28<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank suffered one other setback in December when its Japanese cell phone division held its preliminary public providing throughout a disruptive week in the public markets. It instantly cracked its IPO worth whereas falling 15% on the first day, setting a document as the worst first day of buying and selling in Japanese historical past.29 The one-two punch of the stock-price tumble and the busted IPO supplied simply sufficient of a headwind to the proposed buyout to permit a longstanding difficulty to scuttle the now tenuous deal: voting energy. If WeWork\u2019s IPO went by way of, Neumann would keep D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>eight<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>supermajority management over WeWork by making his Class B and Class C shares take pleasure in 20 votes to each one vote for his traders. \u201cThat\u2019s when issues acquired shaky.30 There was some dangerous luck\u2014the Nikkei took an enormous hit, and the Saudis refused to re-up,\u201d the senior WeWork worker mentioned. \u201cThey have been already $eight billion into the firm, and [Neumann] needed his 20-to-1 voting rights, so between the voting difficulty, the Nikkei tanking, and the loopy valuation, it simply fell aside. It was presupposed to be like $16 billion on $46 [billion]. But it surely turned out to be like $1 billion on $46, and all of it got here from the steadiness sheet of SoftBank, as a result of the Imaginative and prescient Fund had bailed.31<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t know how they acquired to $47 billion,\u201d the senior WeWork worker continued. \u201cThey in all probability had some rhyme or cause, however there was lots of hope and religion. Each time you fundraise, you ask your self how a lot runway that purchased you. Once we raised the $four.four billion, that purchased us two years, however to get to the subsequent milestone valuation level, it was going to take us 4 years. However you\u2019ve solely acquired two years of runway! We have been kicking the can down the street. So, let\u2019s load up the tank, increase extra money, however by the means, now you\u2019re burning even sooner so for those who increase $three billion that\u2019s solely eight months of runway you raised, and now to get to the subsequent valuation milestone, you\u2019re seven years out. How are you going to shut that hole?\u201d32<\/p>\n<p>Issues Fall Aside With WeWork\u2019s income progress outpaced solely by its losses\u2014it had misplaced $1.9 billion in 2018<\/p>\n<p>on income of simply $1.eight billion (see Exhibit  four)\u2014the firm wanted larger and larger money infusions to maintain afloat. When Son known as Neumann on Christmas Eve 2018 to let him know the $20 billion buyout wouldn&#8217;t be going by way of, it solely left one potential supply of these infusions: the public markets. 4 days later, Neumann filed paperwork registering WeWork for an IPO, lastly submitting its S-1, in August 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Even by Wall Road requirements, the market response was savage.<\/p>\n<p>Critics lampooned the doc\u2019s pretentiousness and its idolatry of Neumann, who was talked about 169 occasions. In a scathing retort entitled WeWTF, printed two days after the prospectus\u2019 launch, Professor Scott Galloway of NYU\u2019s Stern School of Enterprise identified that the common unicorn submitting doc referred to founders solely 25 occasions.33 The S-1 featured a \u201cdedication\u201d\u2014uncommon for what is often a dry authorized and monetary doc\u2014that said, \u201cWe dedicate this to the energy of We\u2014larger than anybody of us, however inside every of us\u201d and that the firm\u2019s mission was \u201cto raise the world\u2019s consciousness.\u201d34 Additional testing investor endurance, WeWork\u2019s monetary efficiency was reported as utilizing internally created non-GAAP metrics, reminiscent of \u201ccommunity-based EBITDA (earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation, and amortization),\u201d \u201cARPM (annual common membership and repair income per bodily member),\u201d and \u201cadjusted EBITDA earlier than progress investments.\u201d35<\/p>\n<p>Additional criticism was drawn from the governance and associated occasion transactions part of the doc, whereby WeWork revealed that along with Rebekah, a number of of Neumann\u2019s rapid household labored for the firm. The board of administrators had additionally lent Neumann funds with which he bought, in his personal title, stakes in ten buildings, 4 of which he then leased again to WeWork at a revenue.36 In three of these transactions, WeWork had signed a lease with D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>9<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Neumann on the similar day that he had bought his stake in the buildings, growing the market\u2019s skepticism that these had occurred as arms-length, market-price transactions.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, the firm\u2019s title itself turned an indication of the self-dealing rampant in the firm\u2019s tradition. To rebrand itself as the We Firm, in early 2019, WeWork needed to purchase the trademark to \u201cWe,\u201d which was owned by We Holdings LLC and which \u201chandle[d] some of the founders\u2019 inventory and different property.\u201d In impact, Neumann had trademarked the phrase \u201cWe,\u201d transferred it to an LLC below his management, after which offered it to the We Firm for $5.9 million value of shares in the We Firm.37 The corporate later reversed the transaction amid investor outcry.38<\/p>\n<p>A media feeding frenzy ensued, as nervous bankers\u2014who had pitched WeWork on a valuation between $63 billion and 96 billion in the IPO simply months earlier\u2014started to stroll again the proposed pricing in the face of public market uninterest in paying 24 occasions income for a cash- burning startup. Governance performed an enormous half, as Amy Borrus, deputy director of the Council of Institutional Buyers, identified. \u201cIf you\u2019re visiting with potential traders, and so they increase all these questions, that\u2019s the place the rubber hits the street. It seems lots of traders had pointed questions as to how the firm was structured, how [Neumann] ran the firm, in addition to the financial outlook for the firm,\u201d Borrus mentioned in an interview in late 2019.39 Along with Neumann\u2019s 20x voting rights if the IPO went by way of, traders questioned the CEO succession plan in the occasion of Neumann\u2019s passing or incapacity to carry out his duties. WeWork\u2019s bylaws supplied for the creation of a three-member succession committee consisting of Rebekah Neumann and present board members Bruce Dunlevie and Steven Langman. If neither Dunlevie nor Langman have been serving as administrators at the time, Rebekah would select one or two board members who have been serving at the time to sit down on the choice committee along with her.40<\/p>\n<p>With public investor urge for food for the IPO in freefall, bankers saved revising the pricing vary downward, till asserting they might delay the roadshow on September 16. Firm spokespeople referred to the declare made in the S-1 that though WeWork had prioritized topline income progress above profitability, it might merely dial again on progress if it felt an impetus to achieve profitability sooner quite than later.* Market observers questioned this stage of management however famous that delaying the IPO would give WeWork administration a chance to show it. \u201cOne good factor about suspending the IPO is that you simply get to seek out out,\u201d Matt Levine wrote in his Cash Stuff column on Bloomberg. \u201cLacking out on the $10 billion of public cash would decelerate WeWork\u2019s progress plans, but when WeWork is true, then there may be only a dial that it could flip between \u201cProgress\u201d and \u201cRevenue,\u201d and dialing down the progress mechanically dials up the income. If you&#8217;re assured that you simply possess this dial and that it really works this manner, then delaying the IPO is a no- brainer: Positive, you delay your positive-expected-value progress, however you get to maintain possession of  profitable enterprise quite than promoting it too low cost. On the different hand, if the dial seems to not work, then you definitely\u2019ll find yourself wishing you\u2019d offered it low cost.\u201d41<\/p>\n<p>* The S-1 said: \u201cIf we stopped investing in our progress and as a substitute allowed our present pipeline of places to mature, we&#8217;d now not incur capital investments to construct out new areas or the preliminary bills related to driving member acquisition at new places. Fairly, we anticipate that every mature location would generate a recurring stream of revenues, contribution margin and money flows. We imagine that the flexibility to handle our progress by specializing in our present pipeline of places and permitting them to mature presents us with a chance to handle our profitability profile.\u201dD o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 zero<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Two days later, on September 18, the Wall Road Journal printed an article about Neumann\u2019s administration fashion that detailed his smoking of marijuana on the firm jet, his heavy tequila consumption at work, and his egomaniacal aspirations to develop into the world\u2019s first trillionaire, \u201cpresident of the world,\u201d and immortal being.42 This scandalous account put WeWork\u2019s board of administrators in a difficult place. Neumann nonetheless managed a supermajority of WeWork; whilst CFO Artie Minson and investor Michael Eisenberg held a convention name with the board on Sunday, September 22, arguing that Neumann must step down, Neumann declared \u201cI\u2019m by no means not going to be CEO.\u201d43 Critics identified the irony that if the board terminated him, Neumann would have enough voting rights, if the IPO was profitable, merely to terminate the board and re-hire himself.44<\/p>\n<p>Complicating issues nonetheless additional, the board\u2019s monetary indulgence of Neumann over the years\u2014by way of the loans that allowed him to train inventory choices and people who allowed him to buy buildings and lease them again to the firm, in addition to allowing his participation in secondary parts of financing rounds\u2014meant that the group had even much less leverage than a typical board may in such a state of affairs. Such secondary items, as soon as uncommon in enterprise capital circles, had grown more and more frequent all through the decade, as firms remained personal longer, and massive funds of indulgent personal traders (SoftBank foremost amongst them) had demonstrated their willingness to supply early staff and founders liquidity previous to exit by way of acquisition or IPO. The Wall Road Journal had revealed in July that Neumann had already monetized his curiosity in additional than $700 million in WeWork inventory by way of such transactions over the previous couple of years. Already fabulously rich, with six properties situated in Manhattan, Westchester County, the Hamptons, and San Francisco, Neumann confronted little incentive to cooperate with the board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a recreation of rooster,\u201d the senior WeWork worker later recounted, noting that SoftBank had been the solely investor in the firm since 2016. \u201cHe had already taken $700 million off the desk. \u2018Hey, Masa . . . what if I don\u2019t [step down]?\u2019 WeWork was once four% of [Son]\u2019s portfolio, but it surely turned 100% of [Son]\u2019s fame.\u201d45<\/p>\n<p>Finally, SoftBank blinked, though not with out forcing Neumann out of the firm. The negotiation performed out over three weeks in late September and early October. Neumann resigned on September 24, pressured largely by a $500 million mortgage prolonged to him by JP Morgan, which had each invested in the firm and served as lead banker on its failed IPO. The non-public mortgage had been collateralized by his shares in WeWork, and since he had borrowed in opposition to them at a a lot increased valuation, Neumann discovered himself at threat of being in technical default. (His resignation as CEO additionally positioned Neumann in technical default, triggering rapid reimbursement; JP Morgan agreed to provide him 45 days to resolve the state of affairs.) In mid-October, SoftBank gained a bidding warfare with JP Morgan Chase &amp; Co. for a rescue provide that valued WeWork at roughly $eight billion, some 20% decrease than its 2015 Sequence E spherical (see Exhibit 5). The transaction granted Neumann the proper to promote $970 million in shares (roughly one-third of his remaining stake at that time), prolonged him a $500 million mortgage from SoftBank to repay the JP Morgan mortgage, and paid him a $185 million consulting price. SoftBank\u2019s Marcelo Claure changed Neumann as chairman of the board, successfully severing all ties between the founder and the firm.46 The corporate laid off greater than 2,400 staff\u2014over one-quarter of the workforce\u2014and commenced D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 1<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>divesting the investments Neumann had made in firms he discovered personally fascinating, reminiscent of $13.eight million in a Spanish artificial-wave pool firm and participation in a $32 million financing spherical for surfer star Laird Hamilton\u2019s \u201csuperfood\u201d espresso creamer firm.47<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, market observers (and 1000&#8217;s of laid-off WeWork staff) made Neumann a poster-child for twenty-first century greed,48 whilst he reportedly started to seek advice from himself to buddies as a \u201cmartyr\u201d and to counsel that his lavish exit bundle served as proof of the good job he had carried out as WeWork\u2019s CEO.49 Matt Levine of Bloomberg was much less complimentary: \u201cIt&#8217;s one factor to construct a profitable firm that creates lots of worth and take some of that worth for your self; Neumann created an organization that destroyed worth at a blistering tempo and nonetheless extracted a billion  for himself. He lit $10 billion of SoftBank\u2019s cash on hearth after which went again to them and demanded a 10% fee. What an absolute legend.\u201d50<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 2<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Exhibit 1: Progress in World Coworking Areas, 2005\u20132020<\/p>\n<p>three 30 75 160 310 600 1,130<\/p>\n<p>2,070 three,400<\/p>\n<p>5,780<\/p>\n<p>eight,900<\/p>\n<p>12,100<\/p>\n<p>15,500<\/p>\n<p>18,700<\/p>\n<p>22,400<\/p>\n<p>26,300<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>5,000<\/p>\n<p>10,000<\/p>\n<p>15,000<\/p>\n<p>20,000<\/p>\n<p>25,000<\/p>\n<p>30,000<\/p>\n<p>2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020<\/p>\n<p>Supply: \u201cCoworking Areas,\u201d Statista, accessed December 10, 2019, https:\/\/www.statista.com\/examine\/35480\/coworking-spaces-statista- file.<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 three<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Exhibit 2: SoftBank\u2019s Rising Share of the World VC Market<\/p>\n<p>Supply: Jason D. Rowley, \u201cSoftBank Dealt in Tenth of Worldwide VC Greenback Quantity So Far in 2019,\u201d Crunchbase, October 1, 2019, https:\/\/information.crunchbase.com\/information\/softbank-dealt-in-tenth-of-worldwide-vc-dollar-volume-so-far-in-2019.<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 four<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Exhibit three: WeWork Acquisitions and Investments<\/p>\n<p>Supply: Andy White and Priyamvada Mathur, \u201cWeWork Has Acquired Extra Than 20 Corporations in the Run-As much as its IPO,\u201d PitchBook, September 5, 2019, https:\/\/pitchbook.com\/information\/articles\/wework-has-acquired-more-than-20-companies-in-the-run-up-to-its-ipo.D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 5<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Exhibit four: We Firm\u2019s Revenue Assertion<\/p>\n<p>Fiscal Yr Ended December 31, Six Months Ended June 30 2016 2017 2018 2018 2019<\/p>\n<p>Income $436,099 $886,004 $1,821,751 $763,771 $1,535,420 Bills<\/p>\n<p>Location Working Bills 433,167 814,782 1,521,129 635,968 1,232,941 Different Working Bills &#8211; 1,677 106,788 42,zero24 81,189 Pre-Opening Location Bills 115,749 131,324 357,831 156,983 255,133 Gross sales &amp; Advertising and marketing Bills 43,248 143,424 378,729 139,889 320,zero46 Progress &amp; New Market Improvement Bills 35,731 109,719 477,273 174,091 369,727 Basic &amp; Administrative Bills 115,346 454,zero20 357,486 155,257 389,910 Depreciation &amp; Amortization 88,952 162,892 313,514 137,418 255,924<\/p>\n<p>Whole Bills 832,193 1,817,838 three,512,750 1,441,630 2,904,870 Loss from Operations (396,zero94) (931,834) (1,690,999) (677,859) (1,369,450) Curiosity and different revenue (expense), web (33,400) (7,387) (237,270) (46,406) 469,915 Pre-Tax Loss (429,494) (939,221) (1,928,269) (724,265) (899,535) Revenue Tax Profit (provision) (16) 5,727 850 1,373 (5,117) Web Loss (429,510) (933,494) (1,927,419) (722,892) (904,652) Web Loss Attributable to Non-Controlling Pursuits &#8211; 49,500 316,627 94,762 214,976 Web Loss Attributable to WeWork Corporations, Inc. (429,510) (883,994) (1,610,792) (628,130) (689,676)<\/p>\n<p>Key Efficiency Indicators Workstation Capability (in ones) 107,000 214,000 466,000 301,000 604,000 Memberships (in ones) 87,000 186,000 401,000 268,000 527,000 Enterprise Membership Share 18% 28% 38% 30% 40% Run-Fee Income (in billions) $zero.6 $1.1 $2.four $1.eight $three.three Dedicated Income Backlog (in billions) $zero.1 $zero.5 $2.6 N\/R $four.zero<\/p>\n<p>Supply: The We Firm S-1, August 14, 2019.<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 6<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Exhibit 5: WeWork Income and Valuation Historical past<\/p>\n<p>$zero<\/p>\n<p>$500<\/p>\n<p>$1,000<\/p>\n<p>$1,500<\/p>\n<p>$2,000<\/p>\n<p>$2,500<\/p>\n<p>$three,000<\/p>\n<p>$three,500<\/p>\n<p>$four,000<\/p>\n<p>$zero<\/p>\n<p>$5,000<\/p>\n<p>$10,000<\/p>\n<p>$15,000<\/p>\n<p>$20,000<\/p>\n<p>$25,000<\/p>\n<p>$30,000<\/p>\n<p>$35,000<\/p>\n<p>$40,000<\/p>\n<p>$45,000<\/p>\n<p>$50,000<\/p>\n<p>1\/1\/2010 1\/1\/2011 1\/1\/2012 1\/1\/2013 1\/1\/2014 1\/1\/2015 1\/1\/2016 1\/1\/2017 1\/1\/2018 1\/1\/2019<\/p>\n<p>Pre-money Valuation Proceeds Annual Revenues<\/p>\n<p>Notice: Varied media entities have barely differing valuations reported for every of WeWork\u2019s financing rounds; these discrepancies probably have arisen as a consequence of opacity with respect as to if the possibility pool was set pre- or post-money in every of these rounds, in addition to to the portion of every financing spherical that was main versus secondary.<\/p>\n<p>Supply: WeWork profile, Motate, accessed December 28, 2019, http:\/\/www.motate.co\/firm\/229-wework, inter alia.<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 7<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>Endnotes 1 Nameless WeWork worker, in an interview with the authors, November 25, 2019. 2 Katherine Clarke, \u201cNeumann on Faucet,\u201d The Actual Deal, January 2013, https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/issues_articles\/<\/p>\n<p>neumann-on-tap. three Maya Kosoff, \u201cHow WeWork Turned the Most Precious Startup in New York Metropolis,\u201d Enterprise Insider, October<\/p>\n<p>22, 2015, https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/the-founding-story-of-wework-2015-10. four Ibid. 5 Clarke, \u201cNeumann on Faucet.\u201d 6 \u201cThe Little Trick WeWork\u2019s Adam Neumann Makes use of to Allure Buyers,\u201d The Actual Deal, October 19, 2017,<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/2017\/10\/19\/the-little-trick-weworks-adam-neumann-uses-to-charm-investors. 7 Clarke, \u201cNeumann on Faucet.\u201d eight Alex Konrad, \u201cInside the Phenomenal Rise of WeWork,\u201d Forbes, November 5, 2014, https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/<\/p>\n<p>websites\/alexkonrad\/2014\/11\/05\/the-rise-of-wework\/#3d6f7e716f8b. 9 Claire Boyte-White, \u201cHow WeWork Works and Makes Cash,\u201d Investopedia, November four, 2019,<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/articles\/investing\/082415\/how-wework-works-and-makes-money.asp. 10 \u201cWhat Is the Member Community?\u201d WeWork, accessed January 9, 2020, https:\/\/Help.wework.com\/hc\/en-us\/<\/p>\n<p>articles\/212046786-What-is-the-Member-Community-. 11 The We Firm S-1, August 14, 2019. 12 \u201cIncome of Worldwide Office Group (IWG) Worldwide from 2011 to 2018,\u201d Statista, accessed December<\/p>\n<p>20, 2019, https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/553936\/revenue-of-regus-worldwide. 13 IWG, Annual Report and Accounts 2018, http:\/\/traders.iwgplc.com\/~\/media\/Information\/I\/IWG-IR\/reports-and-<\/p>\n<p>displays\/2019\/consolidated-report-and-accounts-2018.pdf. 14 Ethan Rothstein, \u201cInformation As Market Wobbles, Rivals Take Goal At \u2018Magic Cash\u2019 WeWork,\u201d Bisnow, August<\/p>\n<p>18, 2019, https:\/\/www.bisnow.com\/nationwide\/information\/coworking\/coworking-peril-wework-ipo-industrious- breather-100397.<\/p>\n<p>15 \u201cWeWork\u2019s $47 Billion Dream: The Lavishly Funded Startup That Might Disrupt Business Actual Property,\u201d CB Insights, January 31, 2019, https:\/\/www.cbinsights.com\/analysis\/report\/wework-strategy-teardown.<\/p>\n<p>16 Ibid. 17 Konrad, \u201cInside the Phenomenal Rise of WeWork.\u201d 18 Katie Warren and Taylor Nicole Rogers, \u201cMeet Masayoshi Son,\u201d Enterprise Insider, November 6, 2019,<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/masayoshi-son-softbank-net-worth-lifestyle-silicon-valley-estate-photos-2019- 6#sons-investment-strategies-are-considered-unconventional-in-silicon-valley-7.<\/p>\n<p>19 Katrina Brooker, \u201cWeFail: How the Doomed Masa Son\u2013Adam Neumann Relationship Set WeWork on the Street to Catastrophe,\u201d Quick Firm, November 15, 2019, https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/90426446\/wefail-how- the-doomed-masa-son-adam-neumann-relationship-set-wework-on-the-road-to-disaster.<\/p>\n<p>20 Polina Marinova, \u201cHow Enterprise Capital Mega-Funds Are Widening the Funding Hole,\u201d Fortune, March 22, 2018, https:\/\/fortune.com\/2018\/03\/22\/venture-capital-funding-gap-softbank.<\/p>\n<p>21 Ibid. 22 Brooker, \u201cWeFail.\u201d 23 Ibid. 24 Nameless WeWork worker. 25 Maureen Farrell and Eliot Brown, \u201cThe Cash Males Who Enabled Adam Neumann and the WeWork Debacle,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wall Road Journal, December 14, 2019, https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-money-men-who-enabled-adam- neumann-and-the-wework-debacle-11576299616.D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 eight<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C o KE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>26 Nameless WeWork worker. 27 Ibid. 28 Brooker, \u201cWeFail.\u201d 29 Ibid. 30 Nameless WeWork worker. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Scott Galloway, \u201cWeWTF,\u201d No Mercy\/No Malice (weblog), August 16, 2019, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/<\/p>\n<p>wewtf. 34 The We Firm S-1, August 14, 2019. 35 Alison Griswold, \u201cGet Prepared For Some Inventive Accounting in WeWork\u2019s IPO Submitting,\u201d Quartz, August 13,<\/p>\n<p>2019, https:\/\/qz.com\/1685919\/wework-ipo-community-adjusted-ebitda-and-other-metrics-to-watch-for. 36 Ellen Huet, \u201cWeWork Gave Founder Loans as It Paid Him Hire, IPO Submitting Exhibits,\u201d Bloomberg, August 14,<\/p>\n<p>2019, https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/information\/articles\/2019-08-14\/wework-gave-founder-loans-as-it-paid-him-rent- ipo-filing-shows.<\/p>\n<p>37 Matt Levine, \u201cWe Appears Out for Our Selves,\u201d Cash Stuff, Bloomberg, August 19, 2019, https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2019-08-19\/we-looks-out-for-our-selves.<\/p>\n<p>38 Randyl Drummer, \u201cWeWork Provides Harvard Professor to Board, Reverses Its Trademark Buy From CEO,\u201d CoStar Information, September four, 2019, https:\/\/www.costar.com\/article\/404213830\/wework-adds-harvard-professor- to-board-reverses-its-trademark-purchase-from-ceo.<\/p>\n<p>39 Rani Molla and Shirin Ghaffary, \u201cThe WeWork Mess, Defined,\u201d Vox, October 22, 2019, https:\/\/www.vox.com\/recode\/2019\/9\/23\/20879656\/wework-mess-explained-ipo-softbank.<\/p>\n<p>40 Rebecca Aydin, \u201cWeWork Cofounder Rebekah Neumann, Cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow, Reportedly Demanded Staff Be Fired Inside Minutes of Assembly Them As a result of She Disliked Their \u2018Vitality,\u2019\u201d Enterprise Insider, September 18, 2019, https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/wework-rebekah-neumann-adam-gwyneth-paltrow- energy-goop-2019-9.<\/p>\n<p>41 Matt Levine, \u201cWhat If We Needs to Wait?\u201d Cash Stuff, Bloomberg, September 10, 2019, https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/newsletters\/2019-09-10\/money-stuff-what-if-we-wants-to-wait.<\/p>\n<p>42 Eliot Brown, \u201cHow Adam Neumann\u2019s Over-the-Prime Fashion Constructed WeWork. \u2018This Is Not the Approach All people Behaves.\u2019\u201d Wall Road Journal, September 18, 2019, https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/this-is-not-the-way-everybody- behaves-how-adam-neumanns-over-the-top-style-built-wework-11568823827.<\/p>\n<p>43 Ibid. 44 Matt Levine, \u201cWe Needs a New Boss,\u201d Cash Stuff, Bloomberg, September 23, 2019,<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2019-09-23\/we-wants-a-new-boss. 45 Nameless WeWork worker. 46 Maureen Farrell and Eliot Brown, \u201cSoftBank to Increase Stake in WeWork in Deal That Cuts Most Ties With<\/p>\n<p>Neumann,\u201d Wall Road Journal, October 22, 2019, https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/softbank-to-take-control-of- wework-11571746483.<\/p>\n<p>47 Paige Leskin, \u201cAll the Uncommon Investments WeWork\u2019s Cofounder Adam Neumann Has Made, From a Medical Marijuana Supplier to a Wave Pool Maker,\u201d Enterprise Insider, September 24, 2019, https:\/\/www.businessinsider. com\/wework-adam-neumann-investments-wavegarden-laird-superfood-full-list-2019-9#but-lairds-company- isnt-the-only-superfood-business-in-which-wework-has-invested-wework-has-also-put-money-into-kitu-life- which-makes-dairy-free-protein-heavy-superfood-coffees-creamers-and-espresso-5.<\/p>\n<p>48 Nicolas Vega, \u201cWeWork Staff Request \u2018Honest\u2019 Layoffs in Letter Blasting \u2018Greed\u2019 of Ex-CEO,\u201d New York Put up, November eight, 2019, https:\/\/nypost.com\/2019\/11\/08\/wework-employees-request-fair-layoffs-in-letter-blasting- greed-of-ex-ceo.D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n<p>1 9<\/p>\n<p>T h e h a r d e r W e F a l l : T h e W e C o m p a n y \u2019 s 2 zero 1 9 I p o F I a s C oKE1182<\/p>\n<p>Okay e l l o g g s C h o o l o F m a n a g e m e n T<\/p>\n<p>49 Gabriel Sherman, \u201c\u2018You Don\u2019t Convey Dangerous Information to the Cult Chief\u2019: Inside the Fall of WeWork,\u201d Vainness Honest, November 21, 2019, https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/information\/2019\/11\/inside-the-fall-of-wework.<\/p>\n<p>50 Matt Levine, \u201cHow Do You Like We Now,\u201d Cash Stuff, Bloomberg, October 23, 2019, https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2019-10-23\/how-do-you-like-we-now.<\/p>\n<p>D o<\/p>\n<p>N ot<\/p>\n<p>C op<\/p>\n<p>y or<\/p>\n<p>P os<\/p>\n<p>t<\/p>\n<p>This doc is allowed for educator overview use solely by SHAJAN NINAN, Lead Faculty of Management till Could 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KE1182 January 21, 2021 \u00a92021 by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. This case was ready by Professor Sarit Markovich and Evan Meagher\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[502,481,486,490,517,499,506,498,491,497,496,516,493,488,480,515,511,510,507,503,484,514,523,487,522,524,482,508,513,483,518,495,504,505,512,519,509,501,494],"class_list":["post-11210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk","tag-coca-cola-company-analysis-essay","tag-coca-cola-essay-example","tag-coca-cola-marketing-concepts","tag-coca-cola-topic-ideas-to-write-about-essay-samples","tag-coca-cola-case-study","tag-coca-cola-project","tag-coca-cola-research-paper-title","tag-conclusion-and-recommendation-of-coca-cola","tag-criminology-homework-market","tag-custom-theology-essay-writing-service","tag-descriptive-essay-on-coca-cola","tag-essay-homework-minutes","tag-ethics-homework-for-you","tag-health-care-same-day-essay","tag-healthcare-course-hero","tag-healthcare-study-daddy","tag-history-cole-pals-writers","tag-history-essay-shark-writer","tag-history-essay-writing-service","tag-how-coca-cola-is-made","tag-medical-study-bay","tag-nursing-bay-writers","tag-nursing-coursework-examples","tag-nursing-extra-essay","tag-nursing-papers-help","tag-nursing-questions-answers-examples","tag-nursing-study-pool","tag-plagiarism-free-research-papers","tag-pro-essay-writer","tag-psychology-essay-pro","tag-psychology-source-essay","tag-religion-custom-writings","tag-religion-essay-writing-services","tag-religious-assignment","tag-research-peachy-essay-writer","tag-sample-business-plan-on-coca-cola-company","tag-social-work-essay-writing-service","tag-statement-of-the-problem-of-coca-cola-company","tag-theology-uk-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}