47 Billion to Almost Zero in Just Six Weeks
by Miki Saxon
Top bosses can create/ruin more than a company’s culture, they can literally destroy the company.
How much damage can one person inflict?
Ask Adam Neumann, founder and ex-CEO of WeWork.
Just six weeks ago, the coworking giant WeWork was the US’s most valuable tech startup.
How valuable? Try $47 billion, based on it’s last funding round.
Then it tried to go public.
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.
Hard to believe, but it seems a lesson has been learned and the so-called magic of Silicon Valley is waning. Visions and charisma are no longer enough.
Investors, reporters, and analysts, chastened after seeing Theranos revealed as a massive fraud and watching Uber fail to live up to the hype, didn’t let another visionary founder pull the wool over their eyes.
Without new funding, and with the IPO shelved, WeWork could run out of money by Thanksgiving and be forced to file bankruptcy.
Founders and CEOs aren’t gods.
They are mere mortals; human beings just as capable of screwing up as anyone else.
There’s an old Italian proverb that says it all — after the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.
Image credit: Phillip Pessar
