The disgraced and ousted former WeWork CEO partyed with 100 of his initial WeWork employees in New York yesterday when the company debuted on the public-market Thursday with a value of $9 billion — nearly two years after the shared office space company went under him. after. went bankrupt. Leadership.
Adam Newman, who lost his billionaire status after WeWork’s value plummeted following its first attempt to go public, is now worth an estimated $2.3 billion.
That’s a fraction of WeWork’s more than $4 billion fortune at its peak, but enough to make him a billionaire for the first time since 2019 – and he celebrated in New York in style by serving champagne and wearing tees to guests. The shirt has ‘Student for Life’ written on it.
Despite being fired from the company, Newman still holds an 11 percent stake in WeWork, which is valued at approximately $722 million. Forbes report.
The company’s $9 billion valuation, with shares opening at $11.28, represents a marked drop from the $47 billion the company reportedly reached in 2019, when it first attempted to go public.
But that effort exploded spectacularly in August of that year, resulting in the ouster of then-CEO Adam Newman, when investors became wary of the eccentric CEO’s exorbitant spending and increasingly erratic behavior.
The damage caused by that failure was then magnified by the pandemic.
The disgraced and ousted former WeWork CEO will receive a $660 million payment from WeWork when the company made its public market debut on Thursday — raising the eccentric exec’s net worth to $2.3 billion. Forbes estimated that, between his partnership units and common stock, approximately $700 million of Newman’s fortune is tied up in WeWork.
WeWork is now a publicly traded company after recovering from a spectacular collapse during its first attempt to do so two years ago.
The company also generated $658 million in revenue during the third quarter, 2021, executives revealed during a virtual investor day earlier this month.
On Thursday morning, Newman hosted a party at the Standard Hotel in New York City as WeWork shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, with more than 100 of his former and early employees working as alcohol-soaked bonanzas. Were. was invited to.
‘I feel amazing,’ a New York Post reporter told a New York Post reporter outside the Swanky Hotel, as he gathered a crowd of attendees and pressed into a bar located at the Swanky Hotel in New York’s Meatpacking District, Because WeWork’s shares soared. As much as 11 percent.
Guests enjoyed champagne as early as 9 a.m. while they waited for the opening bell and the first trading of WeWork stock – with mimosas and Bloody Marys being served.
Newman was wearing a black T-shirt with ‘Student for Life’ written on it, as well as his fellow WeWork co-founder, Miguel McKelvey, addressed the crowd.
“It’s such a special day,” Newman told the crowd, stopping near Wall Street where there was “a huge sign” in the face on Thursday, informing traders of WeWork’s breakdown in the public market. Referring to a giant WeWork flag hoisted on the New York Stock Exchange.
Embracing McKelvey several times throughout the speech, he said, ‘A brand has no future without a past.’
In addition to his stake in the company, Newman was able to capture approximately 20 million WeWork Partnership Profit Interest Units.
They will be convertible into shares of common stock of the new public company at any cost after the merger.
Based on SPAC’s $10 per share price, those units are worth about $200 million.
After scrapping the startup’s previous plans for an initial public offering in 2019, Newman’s remaining assets come from selling shares of WeWork over the years and cash received from their lucrative separation agreement.
Company officials said at the time that they “decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business, which has strong fundamentals.”
But they indicated that they still intend to take the company public, adding, ‘We intend to operate WeWork as a public company and look forward to revisiting public equity markets in the future.’
Newman stepped down after his unusual personal conduct – and his use of company assets – came under fire.
Shortly before he quit, he was accused of smoking marijuana with friends on a private flight from New York to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The unconventional executive used WeWork’s corporate jet in the sky as his office to meet with employees while traveling for work.
Employees have spoken out about the ‘cult-like’ environment at WeWork and its so-called ‘party in chief’ behavior that includes smoking marijuana and over-the-top conduct
Adam Newman and wife Rebekah Newman as seen in 2018. Newman’s investors were ready to entertain their whims until WeWork’s IPO fell catastrophically.
He also hosted parties on the customized plane, and used it to bring his wife Rebekah and their five children around the world.
Newman, 41, and his wife sold their 11-acre California property — the size of a guitar — for $22.4 million in April 2021, 10 months after it was first put on the market with a $27.5 million price tag .
In October last year, reports surfaced of Newman’s ‘tequila-fueled leadership style’.
In April 2021, Newman, 41, and his wife, Rebekah Paltrow Newman, sold their 11-acre California estate the size of a guitar for $22.4 million.
Ornate home sold 10 months after being put on market with $27.5 million price tag
A group of employees came forward to reveal that they were subject to a ‘cult-like’ environment while working at WeWork, as well as the allegedly unprofessional behavior of its so-called ‘party in chief’ .
At its peak, WeWork had coworking spaces in more than 110 cities in 29 countries with a valuation of $47 billion, and Newman was considered the next Steve Jobs – a Silicon Valley innovator who would change the world.
But Newman’s office suites were absurd even by the standards of Silicon Valley owners. In the early days he had a punching bag, an hourglass, and a bar—later his office in New York had a sauna and a private bathroom with a cold-plunge tub.
Shortly before leaving his position as CEO in 2019 after the first failed IPO, he was accused of smoking marijuana with friends on his private jet during a flight from New York to his home country of Israel.
WeWork hysteria reached its peak in 2017 when SoftBank invested $4.4 billion in the company and Newman announced that its value was based more on ‘our energy and spirituality’ than revenue.
He added: ‘We are here to change the world – nothing less interests me’.
Newman also talked about being President of the United States of America, jokingly once he could have been ‘President of the world’.
That dream was shattered when WeWork applied for its initial public offering — which forced it to open its finances to scrutiny.
Newman stepped down in September 2019, saying: ‘The investigation directed at me has become a significant distraction, and I have decided that it is in the best interest of the company to step down as chief executive.’
According to the Financial Times, WeWork is estimated to take about $1.3 billion from the merger with blank-check firm BowX Acquisition Corp. and $150 million from Cushman & Wakefield.
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