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By Stephanie Mojica
At the end of the day, allegations of sexual harassment as well as classic greed appear to be the sources of the rapid decline of WeWork (a 10-year-old commercial real estate company that offers shared workspaces and other services throughout the world).
Once on top of the world, co-founder and now-former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann has been the focus of allegations with at least one shade of #MeToo, according to CNBC Make It.
If what sources told CNBC is true, Neumann needs extensive therapy as well as Alcoholics Anonymous and Marijuana Anonymous meetings. Oh, and probably Business Debtors Anonymous while he’s at it — Neumann allegedly made millions for himself leasing buildings he partially owned back to WeWork, making the company itself even more strapped for cash.
Neumann recently listed his New York City penthouse for $37.5 million, which at first blush seems to be the end of his era at least.
Pause.
That’s still millions upon millions of dollars left for him, unless he is successfully sued for allegations of sleeping with his employees, smoking marijuana on the job, and trying to soften layoff discussions by offering soon-to-be jobless folks shots of tequila.
Yikes. This all sounds like a bad movie. Except, it’s not.
It gets even worse, because there’s not just one guy to blame here.
Business Insider published an extensive investigation into other WeWork executives and managers sleeping with subordinate employees as well as using drugs and alcohol openly at public “professional” events. A former WeWork real estate division employee created a 50-page document in 2018 outlining these antics as well as other disturbing allegations such as pay discrimination.
As of the time of this writing, WeWork has paid more than $2 million in “hush money” to some of the women who suffered from inappropriate sexual advances and pay discrimination.
Newly minted CEO Sandeep Mathrani emphatically told Business Insider that the culture of his version of WeWork will not tolerate bad behavior.
It may be too little, too late.
The publicity and financial numbers have been so bad that Apple (yes, that Apple) is creating a TV series based on the “WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork” podcast. It will be available on the Apple TV Plus streaming service. Lee Eisenberg of “The Office” fame is reportedly co-writing the project, according to Variety.
We at Realty411 don’t like to see anyone fall, especially when the livelihoods of so many innocent employees, investors, and shareholders are at stake. However, it seems that WeCrashed has been a long time coming. Perhaps Mathrani has the professional skills and personal integrity to salvage the company (after all, even bad publicity is still publicity), but we’re not holding our collective breath. (Hopefully, the investors and shareholders got out while they still could.)
After all, who can forget the image of company retreats where the sounds of employee-supervisor sex allegedly filled the air?
WeWork Series in the Works at Apple From Lee Eisenberg, Drew Crevello
