WeCrashed - General Discussion

[chocolatine]

The first three episodes dropped on Apple TV+ this week, but I haven't seen a thread for it, so I'm creating one. I only watched the first episode so far, and it's OK; not great, but not terrible either. I don't know much about the details of the real-life story, but I always thought it was preposterous of WeWork to position themselves as a tech company and have such a high valuation, so the scandal and withdrawal of the IPO didn't surprise me.

Jared Leto is pretty good, but the real Adam Neumann is 6'5" tall, so Leto doesn't have his physicality. And I don't know much about the real-life Rebekah and whether she's as obnoxiously new-agey as she's being portrayed. Since she's Gwyneth Paltrow's cousin and used to write for GOOP, I'm guessing the writers are portraying her as a brunette version of Gwyneth.

Edited March 21, 2022 by chocolatine

[Whimsy]

Thanks for starting this. I watched all 3 episodes available yesterday. I know nothing about this company, but I’m just on a tour of “based on true events:the business version” since I’m watching this, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, the Uber one (only watched 1 ep so far) and now this. I’m going to wait to comment until maybe some others post or I do a little research. 

[Stiggs]

I watched the Hulu doc about these folks, then went down an internet rabbit hole about the Neumanns, so I was really looking forward to this. 
Hathaway being almost as tall as Leto is distracting because yeah, Neumann was taaallll. But everything I’ve seen with the real Rebekah makes me think Hathaway is holding back, heh. She grates my nerves, and her husband is clearly, to me, a garden variety piece of shit who was clearly just renting office space. At least with Theranos there was some there there with at least the promise of what was to be. But this grosso was able to get people to buy into the fact that renting office space and adult dorm living was going to change the world? What? 
That said, I enjoyed the first three episodes. The whole work-as-a-life-purpose thing is so culty. No employer of mine is going to get me to chant jack shit. And booze at work? I’m old - so I say old lady shit - who the hell wants to work with buzzed/drunk people? 
Even pondering NY real estate stresses me out and I live in Florida. 
The mandatory summer camps would have been the last straw for me. 
I wish they would have given Leto more lashes - he talks a lot like Neumann, but closeup shots just look like he’s playing dress up. 
If I ever meet Rebekah, I will greet her with: Is Gwyneth coming? 🙃

Edited March 20, 2022 by Stiggs

[Glade]

17 hours ago, Whimsy said:

I’m just on a tour of “based on true events:the business version” since I’m watching this, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, the Uber one (only watched 1 ep so far) and now this. I’m going to wait to comment until maybe some others post or I do a little research. 

Yeah...personally I don't think I have the bandwidth to watch more then one 'true story' show about a corporate sociopath, and this one isn't it. 

[chocolatine]

Watched episodes two and three today. Rebekah is really something. Her saying (and later doubling down) that women are supposed to support men somewhat makes sense with what has been shown about her upbringing - rich Manhattan family, father spoils her rotten without placing any professional expectations on her, presumably because she's supposed to marry a rich man just like him and never have to make her own living - but it's still incredibly tone-deaf. And the way she treats WeWork employees, like making the corporate communications lady drive her around and carry her bags, is beyond the pale. (BTW, I thought that woman should have quit and not wait to get fired.)

The "summer camp" with its "silent disco" and costumes looked like a weak attempt to bring Burning Man to the East Coast. The Silicon Valley tech crowd absolutely loves Burning Man, so I'm sure that's where Adam got the idea.

[hatchetgirl]

I think they needed to do some slight prosthetic work on Jared.  Adam is way more angular in the face.  From far away, he's doing a great job, voice, hair, movements, but up close, I can only see Jared.  

And what is with all these shows?  Wecrashed, The Dropout, Super Pumped, Anna Delvey.  Were the 2000's/2010's just full of these terrible charlatans?  (and yes, I said charlatans - i'm an old.)  

[chocolatine]

2 hours ago, hatchetgirl said:

And what is with all these shows?  Wecrashed, The Dropout, Super Pumped, Anna Delvey.  Were the 2000's/2010's just full of these terrible charlatans?  (and yes, I said charlatans - i'm an old.)  

Strictly speaking Super Pumped isn't about a charlatan, since Uber has a viable business model and is a successful, publicly traded company. But there are similarities to WeWork in terms of bad leadership and toxic bro culture. Some of the female WeWork employees in episode three mentioned the "fuck closets" and Uber was infamous for employees having sex in stairwells.

[Stiggs]

3 hours ago, hatchetgirl said:

I think they needed to do some slight prosthetic work on Jared.  Adam is way more angular in the face.  From far away, he's doing a great job, voice, hair, movements, but up close, I can only see Jared.  

And what is with all these shows?  Wecrashed, The Dropout, Super Pumped, Anna Delvey.  Were the 2000's/2010's just full of these terrible charlatans?  (and yes, I said charlatans - i'm an old.)  

Leto looks more like Tom Hiddleston as Loki and it would be too distracting if he didn't have the Adam voice and the general air of douche-baggery down pat. 

I tried watching Super Pumped and literally only kept it on for the background music because of all the Pearl Jam songs (I'm also old, and am too wondering about all of these charlatans, lol.). I think I'm enjoying this one more than the others — Hathaway's Rebekah is 10X more fascinating than Anna Delvey. 

I was recently reading that the poor Neumanns are currently "only" worth a few hundred million. Poor dears. 

Oh, I don't know if the yogi eating canned stew in his office actually happened, but it might be my favorite scene so far...

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, Stiggs said:

I tried watching Super Pumped and literally only kept it on for the background music because of all the Pearl Jam songs

I did that for the first episode, but then realized I can also listen to Pearl Jam without having to watch a terribly written show. 😄

As far as ranking among among similar shows, for me The Dropout is far superior, but WeCrashed is entertaining enough to keep watching.

[ZeeEnnui]

So while this isn't anywhere near as good as The Dropout, I'm still enjoying this. 

I watched the Hulu doc about WeWork last year, and Jared Leto -- the wannabe Christian Bale, who I can take or leave in most projects -- nails Adam's voice and mannerisms. 

Both Adam and Rebekah are different kinds of despicable. Adam is straight up drink the Kool-Aid levels of creepy, and I personally would not feel comfortable in a room alone with him because I'd either end up dead or owning a timeshare somewhere. Rebekah is the kind of horribly privileged rich girl who bores you about crystals and throws a fit in Moon Juice because her smoothie had the blue algae instead of the lions head mushrooms which will cause chakras to explode or something. She's not a Karen, she's a Muffy. 

I've worked in a number of start-ups so shows like this are both an eye roll and a trigger for me. I learned after my first terrible experience that all the ping pong tables, free pizza Fridays and cool vibes are a mask for an insidiously toxic work environment. At least my bad start-up didn't have a fuck closet. 

Rebekah's bullshit in the silent retreat was epic. I loved it when the women from WeWork were not there for her shiz, so it was so gross when Rebekah somehow managed to talk her way out of it. Oh we have to SUPPORT everyone. EYE ROLL. Like, no one saw through that? 

I felt bad for the comms lady. Not only did PR flack get treated like the freaking help by Rebekah but she is blamed for her client's unwillingness to own up to her problematic statements. And, I love that she's the only one on the team that gets let go. Oh, and the only woman. Getting fired by a dude with COCK written on his forehead is a definite low point, but in hindsight she was probably relieved to exit the clown car that was WeWork. 

[hatchetgirl]

7 hours ago, Stiggs said:

I tried watching Super Pumped and literally only kept it on for the background music because of all the Pearl Jam songs (I'm also old, and am too wondering about all of these charlatans, lol.). I think I'm enjoying this one more than the others — Hathaway's Rebekah is 10X more fascinating than Anna Delvey

Oh, I don't know if the yogi eating canned stew in his office actually happened, but it might be my favorite scene so far...

 

Yeah the soundtrack is really good on super pumped. 

I agree with others that The Dropout is a really good watch. 

Also, I read that that the guru was sort of uma Thurman's brother. He was involved in some yoga practice and the brought Rebekah in and was only paid $1 to $2 per person brought in.

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by hatchetgirl
Adding a quote

[hatchetgirl]

8 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Strictly speaking Super Pumped isn't about a charlatan, since Uber has a viable business model and is a successful, publicly traded company. But there are similarities to WeWork in terms of bad leadership and toxic bro culture. Some of the female WeWork employees in episode three mentioned the "fuck closets" and Uber was infamous for employees having sex in stairwells

You are correct. Charlatans isn't a correct term for the Neumanns and the Uber guy. Uber guy, I think it's just garbage. I'm trying to decide if Adam is garbage or a guy with moxie who believes his own hype. I wish I had a portion of that stuff confidence of any of these people. 

[chocolatine]

6 minutes ago, hatchetgirl said:

You are correct. Charlatans isn't a correct term for the Neumanns and the Uber guy. Uber guy, I think it's just garbage. I'm trying to decide if Adam is garbage or a guy with moxie who believes his own hype. I wish I had a portion of that stuff confidence of any of these people. 

I think Adam is garbage *and* a guy with moxie who believes his own hype. And honestly, having worked in startups, I have no respect for people who project that kind of "confidence." They have zero skills, all they do is spout BS to everyone all day long. I'd much rather be known for my integrity and technical skills than for smoke and mirrors.

[bosawks]

I am loving Anne Hathaway in this!

I think the series is a little paint by numbers but I cannot stop watching her and her commitment to this utterly unpleasant woman.

[amarante]

21 hours ago, hatchetgirl said:

You are correct. Charlatans isn't a correct term for the Neumanns and the Uber guy. Uber guy, I think it's just garbage. I'm trying to decide if Adam is garbage or a guy with moxie who believes his own hype. I wish I had a portion of that stuff confidence of any of these people. 

Given his financial self dealings I would say he is garbage.

Too bad he didn't crash and burn because he walked off with at least half a billion - not to mention all of the stuff acquired during his tenure.

[BusyOctober]

I watched the documentary “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” on Hulu last week, then found this show.  The documentary was pretty good.  Adam and Rebekah didn’t participate in it, but I know all I need to know about both of them. Over confident, over privileged, self indulgent narcissists.  I have only watched one episode of WeCrashed, but so far, Leto and Hathaway have captured the asshole essence very well.

I highly recommend the Hulu show if anyone wants to hear from former investors and employees about how the Cult of Adam had a meteoric rise, then crashed spectacularly.

[nomodrama]

On 3/20/2022 at 11:05 AM, Stiggs said:

That said, I enjoyed the first three episodes. The whole work-as-a-life-purpose thing is so culty. No employer of mine is going to get me to chant jack shit. And booze at work? I’m old - so I say old lady shit - who the hell wants to work with buzzed/drunk people? 

I feel the same way.

Interestingly a contractor for the place I used to work at moved into a WeWork building in So Cal after their office building ended their lease. My department worked closely with the group of people who moved in there and I remember them giving us a video tour of the office space, which I admit did look really fun and cool. Of course we were not privy to any of the shenanigans that might be going on there if there were any.  

On 3/21/2022 at 9:10 PM, hatchetgirl said:

You are correct. Charlatans isn't a correct term for the Neumanns and the Uber guy. Uber guy, I think it's just garbage. I'm trying to decide if Adam is garbage or a guy with moxie who believes his own hype. I wish I had a portion of that stuff confidence of any of these people. 

Seriously! I described Adam to my husband as a Silvertongue. I get Rebekah came from money but Adam was able to go from being broke to having millions just with his mouth and no actual skills. I have a really great work ethic, if I just had half his confidence I'd probably be in a much different place. And regardless of what they did, they both walked away pretty comfortable, and from what I read they at least seem to portray having a pretty good marriage, with 5 kids, so they aren't doing so bad. I just hope Miguel made it out of this ok and didn't turn into a horrible person.

I feel like this is good because JL and AH are good. Otherwise it would be a hot mess. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

I was obsessed with the first two episodes.  I think that JL and AH are doing an amazing job.  I'm glad to see that other people agree.

However, episode 3 went so dark!  It was so tough to watch. 

I wanted like a goofy show to have fun with.  This isn't that!

[BusyOctober]

Ha!  Anthony Edwards plays characters who got duped by Adam Neuman and Anna Delvy!

I’ve watched all of these scam-a-lam shows for the past few months…other than the greed factor, I just don’t know how the people and investors got sucked in by any of these assholes.  Anna Delvy, Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neuman, the Sacklers, Martin Shkreli and the other douchey frat bros from Uber and Fyre Festival all lied and cheated and stabbed friends & business associates in the back. Yet people kept giving them money!  

I just don’t see the charisma in any of these people.  Adam and Rebekah’s personalities are such a turn off.  All the new-ages babble, talk of community and making the world better was so obviously lies.  They treated people like servants whose only role was to keep fawning and do coffee runs.

[ZeeEnnui]

"You have no light." Way harsh, Elisha! I love it. The only thing that would have made her verbal smackdown of Rebecca even better... mentioning dear Cousin Gwyneth. 

Adam and Rebecca really are a match made in rancid kombucha hell. 

Edited April 1, 2022 by ZeeEnnui

[AntFTW]

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS THREAD SINCE THE SHOW PREMIERED! I suck at looking for things apparently.

[AntFTW]

On 3/24/2022 at 8:54 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I think that JL and AH are doing an amazing job.

They are so convincing! I'm captivated.

[AntFTW]

On 3/25/2022 at 7:15 AM, BusyOctober said:

Ha!  Anthony Edwards plays characters who got duped by Adam Neuman and Anna Delvy!

I noticed that also.

On 3/22/2022 at 12:10 AM, hatchetgirl said:

I'm trying to decide if Adam is garbage or a guy with moxie who believes his own hype.

Yes... to both.

On 3/21/2022 at 3:58 PM, chocolatine said:

Strictly speaking Super Pumped isn't about a charlatan, since Uber has a viable business model and is a successful, publicly traded company.

There's an argument that the WeWork business model is viable, because other companies do "shared coworking spaces" and are profitable.

On 3/22/2022 at 12:29 AM, chocolatine said:

And honestly, having worked in startups, I have no respect for people who project that kind of "confidence." They have zero skills, all they do is spout BS to everyone all day long. I'd much rather be known for my integrity and technical skills than for smoke and mirrors.

I hate people like that because they have a tendency of talking at you and talking as if you have no knowledge of what they're saying. To an untrained ear, they sound so sure in what they're saying, and the confidence in which they say it is persuasive.

Admittedly, sometimes you need those people. Professionally, I speak in plain language because I want no miscommunication. I don't speak in "smoke and mirrors." Therefore, sometimes I need someone that speaks in "smoke and mirrors" much like what Adam does for Miguel.

In this show, Miguel doesn't appear to be very assertive. I wouldn't let the "smoke and mirrors" guy take the reins of the company. Personally, when there's too much smoke and too many mirrors, I reign that in. I don't let the smoke and mirrors get out of control or leave the bounds of reality.

On 3/22/2022 at 12:29 AM, chocolatine said:

I think Adam is garbage *and* a guy with moxie who believes his own hype.

Yes! He! Is!

Nothing is worse than a person who believes their own BS.

Edited April 1, 2022 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

I feel like they should have named the fifth episode “Bad Energy”

Edited April 1, 2022 by AntFTW

[chocolatine]

The look on the HR lady's face every time Rebekah showed up at her office to ask her to fire someone for "bad energy" was priceless. This is why nepotism is so toxic and unprofessional. It's terrible for morale, and nobody dares to be honest to the boss about the incompetent relative/friend and risk their own job.

Also, how exactly does Rebekah think she can make the entire company vegan? Is there going to be someone at the entrance of every location monitoring all food items that are being brought in by tenants, or delivered? Of course Adam was gleefully enjoying the very much non-vegan caviar on his private jet after letting Rebekah run with her absurd idea.

19 hours ago, AntFTW said:

There's an argument that the WeWork business model is viable, because other companies do "shared coworking spaces" and are profitable.

Maybe, but the way Adam was running the business it was hemorrhaging money, and the valuation he was going for was off the charts absurd. I still don't understand how Benchmark Capital and SoftBank didn't realize that from the beginning. It doesn't take an MBA to know that it was a load of BS, just a dash of common sense and some back-of-the-envelope calculations would have shown that.

[AntFTW]

1 minute ago, chocolatine said:

Maybe, but the way Adam was running the business it was hemorrhaging money, and the valuation he was going for was off the charts absurd.

The business model can be profitable, just not the way Adam was doing it. 🤣

I'm not sure how these venture capitalist let what is essentially a real estate company be valued so high. My understanding from reading other material is that by the time SoftBank came in, people were convinced that WeWork was a "tech unicorn" rather than just a landlord. People were treating it as if it were a tech company. As we see in the show, the guy at Benchmark was comparing WeWork's growth to Amazon's, which are incomparable businesses.

To me, it seems that Adam Neumann genuinely thought that the growth potential of WeWork could be as exponential as Amazon, Facebook, or any other online companies. He sold himself on that idea and therefore, sold that idea to others.

13 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

The look on the HR lady's face every time Rebekah showed up at her office to ask her to fire someone for "bad energy" was priceless.

I loved it! It was hilarious!

22 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Also, how exactly does Rebekah think she can make the entire company vegan?

She makes me want to bash my head against the wall!

...and PRESERVING THE SOUL OF THE COMPANY?????? What the f*%k does that even mean?

If my relative/friend/spouse says that or any other useless thing like that, I'd have to give the HR lady a raise to fire them and take away their access to the building while I'm conveniently on vacation or a business trip.

...but the "sending energy/vibes/whatever through the phone" thing did make me chuckle.

[AntFTW]

50 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

I still don't understand how Benchmark Capital and SoftBank didn't realize that from the beginning. It doesn't take an MBA to know that it was a load of BS, just a dash of common sense and some back-of-the-envelope calculations would have shown that.

My understanding of SoftBank is that they have a higher risk profile in terms of growth strategy. From what I've read, they prefer companies that can implement a blitz strategy where they can spend a lot and fast to grow exponentially. Generally, tech companies can use that strategy and become profitable once they stabilize and reduce the growth spending, which may explain why Masa said he was looking for tech companies in the previous episode.

Benchmark? Your guess is as mine, and I don't have one.

Edited April 2, 2022 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

If you guys ever watched the WeWork documentary on Hulu, the casting of Miguel is spot on. The actor looks and sounds just like him.

[EdnasEdibles]

I didn't watch the documentary yet but I listened to the podcast and these people are all fascinating. 

I'll say that I kind of see some of the genius in the idea. I mean, WeWork is just basically a shared co-working space and we know that those work (more or less) and I honestly can see some of the draw in the idea of WeLive? When they get to that part . . . I moved around a lot for my career in my 20s and moving to a new town and knowing no one, not having much money . . . I honestly could have seen myself renting a WeLive dorm room. Cheaper - more people my age around me, social activities. Hell, at one job I lived in this apartment community that had parties and pool events and trips to Dallas Cowboy games. It's not a bad idea! 

But when they start getting into schools and educating and saving the world, lord no. Too much. Way too much.

I was fascinated by the America Ferrara character and I guess she's loosely based on Julie Rice who was a Soul Cycle founder and briefly the Branding Officer there. 

[sadie]

Maybe someone can explain to me why they keep calling all the people there “employees”? I thought it was desk space for rent, meaning you work for some one else and use the Wework space, you don’t actually work for Wework? Right? Adam and Rebecca treat these people as employees but they are just space leasers, right? 

[EdnasEdibles]

10 minutes ago, sadie said:

Maybe someone can explain to me why they keep calling all the people there “employees”? I thought it was desk space for rent, meaning you work for some one else and use the Wework space, you don’t actually work for Wework? Right? Adam and Rebecca treat these people as employees but they are just space leasers, right? 

I believe that they're talking about the people at WeWork corporate office. So they are actual employees at WeWork corporate that you see in the show. 

[AntFTW]

41 minutes ago, sadie said:

Maybe someone can explain to me why they keep calling all the people there “employees”?

31 minutes ago, EdnasEdibles said:

I believe that they're talking about the people at WeWork corporate office. So they are actual employees at WeWork corporate that you see in the show. 

Right! I thought they were referring to the WeWork corporate employees. You can't fire a tenant by going to HR.

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, sadie said:

Maybe someone can explain to me why they keep calling all the people there “employees”? I thought it was desk space for rent, meaning you work for some one else and use the Wework space, you don’t actually work for Wework? Right? Adam and Rebecca treat these people as employees but they are just space leasers, right? 

WeWork has employees who run the business. I don't know if there is any kind of spacial separation - e.g. employees on one floor, tenants/customers on the other floors - or if they're all commingled.

[AntFTW]

5 hours ago, chocolatine said:

WeWork has employees who run the business. I don't know if there is any kind of spacial separation - e.g. employees on one floor, tenants/customers on the other floors - or if they're all commingled.

What I wonder is do they treat their own office space like they do their tenants' space (i.e. encouraging a communal and sharing environment) and is that why an employee could reserve Rebekah's (or perhaps even someone else's) office.

Edited April 5, 2022 by AntFTW

[chocolatine]

6 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

What I wonder is do they treat their own office space like they do their tenants' space (i.e. encouraging a communal and sharing environment) and is that why an employee could reserve Rebekah's (or perhaps even someone else's) office.

Probably. I also got the feeling that Rebekah wasn't there nearly as much as Adam or any of the other employees, so her office was empty most of the time. It was a vanity office.

[AntFTW]

54 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Probably. I also got the feeling that Rebekah wasn't there nearly as much as Adam or any of the other employees, so her office was empty most of the time. It was a vanity office.

I agree with that. I felt like her office had to be unused and vacant pretty often for people to start using it as a spare conference room in the first place.

[BusyOctober]

Wow, the delusion runs deep with the Neumanns.  WeGrow tuition was approx $30-40k per year, which I guess is the norm for some of the private schools in NYC…which I find mind boggling.  But what blows my mind even more is that there are that many ultra rich parents who want their kids to drink organic kombucha while doing yoga on responsibly sourced Japanese wheat grass mats as they “manifest” their favorite flavor of macrobiotic yak yogurt for snack time “mind-body-soul wellness time”as the core curriculum for their education.   

Adam definitely had/has a messianic personality. There is something wrong with his brain…too much or too little of some chemical maybe?  How do these “big idea, disruptive “ people keep their cons going and going, and keep roping in more investors??  As much as they get off on taking all their risks, part of their “no fear” mentality must block all concerns of failing or being discovered as the frauds they are. Adam (& Rebekah), Anna Delvy, Billy McFarland, Travis Kalanick, Elizabeth Holmes…none of these people had a conscience in the same way ‘normal’ people do.
 

 

[AntFTW]

Wow! I loved episode 6. Cameron from Benchmark is MEEEEEE!!!! I saw so much of myself in him. I cracked up when they thought they were going to overload and intimidate him with mountains of documents until he brought in his team.

Adam and Rebekah are made for each other. Adam is toxic. I couldn't imagine working with or for someone like that. I just never understood CEOs who are fighting the "forever war." Adam has built the single biggest shared workspace company, and yet, he still acts like his back is against the wall and he's fighting the establishment. He's a CEO of a now-large billion dollar-revenue generating company but never left that small startup mentality. He can't see that he's the establishment now.

Miguel is a cofounder of the company and is very much involved in the day-to-day operations. He should know how to handle a board meeting, even an unplanned board meeting.

Masa confuses me. The point of investing in a growth company like WeWork is to eventually take the company public, because that's how he's going to receive the return on his investment. It would raise so many red flags to me if the CEO is taking about buying out the rest of the stakeholders and keeping the company private. If SoftBank would have bought out the rest of the equity partners at that high valuation, I'm sure they wouldn't have complained.

Edited April 8, 2022 by AntFTW

[chocolatine]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:53 AM, AntFTW said:

Masa confuses me. The point of investing in a growth company like WeWork is to eventually take the company public, because that's how he's going to receive the return on his investment. It would raise so many red flags to me if the CEO is taking about buying out the rest of the stakeholders and keeping the company private. If SoftBank would have bought out the rest of the equity partners at that high valuation, I'm sure they wouldn't have complained.

And that's why Masa ultimately didn't go for the buyout. He may be "crazy" but he's not stupid (well, I guess a little stupid to have invested in WeWork as a tech company in the first place, but at least he didn't throw good money after bad).

I loved Bruce's face when Rebekah was pitching him all the WeVerbs while wearing a see-through swimsuit cover-up, as well as Cameron's equal measures of snark and competence - he seems to be the only person on the show who understands what it takes to run a successful company.

Adam lashed out both against Rebekah and (more subtly) against Miguel in this episode. He can't be a Messiah without his most devoted followers, so he needs to be more careful with how he treats them.

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

And that's why Masa ultimately didn't go for the buyout. He may be "crazy" but he's not stupid (well, I guess a little stupid to have invested in WeWork as a tech company in the first place, but at least he didn't throw good money after bad).

....but he seemed to consider the idea. That's what throws me off. Maybe Adam didn't mean "no IPO" permanently. Maybe there would have been one eventually but later than Benchmark wanted it. Maybe it was apart of their negotiations because the show didn't touch on it after Adam made the suggestion of not having an IPO.

I would imagine "no IPO" is a nonstarter and wouldn't even be considered.

[chocolatine]

29 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

....but he seemed to consider the idea. That's what throws me off. Maybe Adam didn't mean "no IPO" permanently. Maybe there would have been one eventually but later than Benchmark wanted it. Maybe it was apart of their negotiations because the show didn't touch on it after Adam made the suggestion of not having an IPO.

I would imagine "no IPO" is a nonstarter and wouldn't even be considered.

During the back-and-forth between Masa and Adam in this episode it sounded like Masa was only willing to do the buyout if it gave him a controlling share - in which case it would have been up to him whether and when to have the IPO - and Adam kept pushing back. I think that, more than Adam being late to the meeting with the sheikh, is what stopped Masa from moving forward.

[AntFTW]

5 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I loved Bruce's face when Rebekah was pitching him all the WeVerbs while wearing a see-through swimsuit cover-up

That! and I also loved Damian's face when he's trying to figure out what was WeGrow's mission and after Rebekah said "...to unleash every person's superpower" and WeGrow is "more of a practice and a new approach to life." Damian's face was like "ok... this is going nowhere."

3 hours ago, chocolatine said:

During the back-and-forth between Masa and Adam in this episode it sounded like Masa was only willing to do the buyout if it gave him a controlling share - in which case it would have been up to him whether and when to have the IPO - and Adam kept pushing back. I think that, more than Adam being late to the meeting with the sheikh, is what stopped Masa from moving forward.

I'm thinking that Adam really thought this deal with Masa was going to close and that's why he let Rebekah continue building the school, and why he doubled down on his immaturity with "the tequila, and the cock and balls in the zen garden, and all of that adolescent bullshit."

[chocolatine]

3 minutes ago, AntFTW said:

I'm thinking that Adam really thought this deal with Masa was going to close

He also thought that he was the Messiah, so of course he thought the deal would close.

[BusyOctober]

I am enjoying this, but every now and then, Jared Leto’s accent jumps from Adam Neumann to Adam Sandler, doing his Count Dracula voice.

Rebekah is so so so delusional with her school.  ”We want to educate them from birth to death” as a school mission statement??? mmmkay.  

[AntFTW]

I feel like there would have been a lot more internal pushback on that S-1 than we saw in the show. Only Cameron really pushed back on it, but I imagine a lot more people told Adam he was nuts if he files that S-1, including bankers.

For me, the greatest part of the story is the public response to the S-1. I thought we were gonna get that in episode 7 (because I thought there were only 7 episodes) but it's gonna be next week's episode.

Edited April 15, 2022 by AntFTW

[chocolatine]

"You've turned the S-1 into a children's book. Have you ever seen an S-1?" - Cameron wins the episode for the second time in a row.

6 hours ago, AntFTW said:

For me, the greatest part of the story is the public response to the S-1. I thought we were gonna get that in episode 7 (because I thought there were only 7 episodes) but it's gonna be next week's episode.

We did see Scott Galloway publish a blog post about it and a WSJ reporter reading the blog post. I look forward to next week's episode when it all comes crashing down for the Neumanns.

I almost felt bad for the employees who borrowed money to exercise their stock options, but then they got way too cocky with the helicopter flights and Birkin bags. Never count your chickens before they've hatched, kids!

BTW, do we know how much money JPMorgan Chase lost underwriting this IPO? Or did they not lose any money since the IPO didn't actually happen? Either way, it's hard to believe Jamie Dimon wasn't fired after this fiasco.

Edited April 16, 2022 by chocolatine

[AntFTW]

I'm loving Anne Hathaway as Rebekah. She has Rebekah's voice down.

4 hours ago, chocolatine said:

We did see Scott Galloway publish a blog post about it and a WSJ reporter reading the blog post. I look forward to next week's episode when it all comes crashing down for the Neumanns.

We got a piece of it but it wasn't enough 😂

4 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I almost felt bad for the employees who borrowed money to exercise their stock options, but then they got way too cocky with the helicopter flights and Birkin bags. Never count your chickens before they've hatched, kids!

Right! I was like "no kids, never do that until the money hits the account."

4 hours ago, chocolatine said:

BTW, do we know how much money JPMorgan Chase lost underwriting this IPO? Or did they not lose any money since the IPO didn't actually happen? Either way, it's to believe Jamie Dimon wasn't fired after this fiasco.

At a minimum, they wasted time that could have been used courting better clients with better prospects. No IPO means there are fees they ultimately didn't get. I did some light research, I didn't find anything specific.

Edited April 16, 2022 by AntFTW

[ZeeEnnui]

Hey Miguel. Instead of buying fine art, maybe buy yourself a spine. It's a better long term investment.

Adam is a ridiculous snake oil salesman, but Rebekah is just insidious. Anne Hathaway is nailing the character's roiling resentment and bitterness about everyone else's accomplishments. "Everyone thinks I'm a joke." No kidding. You are every charged crystal woowoo rich lady with all the personality of a green juice left out for hours in the sun. Her entitlement is astounding (but also hilarious) but also without her money she'd be working at a Moon Juice trying to manifest her power on her Etsy board.

CAMERON!!!!! MVP. We don't get much of him, but when we do it's always solid gold. 

[MaggieG]

On 4/15/2022 at 11:56 PM, ZeeEnnui said:

Hey Miguel. Instead of buying fine art, maybe buy yourself a spine. It's a better long term investment.

Adam is a ridiculous snake oil salesman, but Rebekah is just insidious. Anne Hathaway is nailing the character's roiling resentment and bitterness about everyone else's accomplishments. "Everyone thinks I'm a joke." No kidding. You are every charged crystal woowoo rich lady with all the personality of a green juice left out for hours in the sun. Her entitlement is astounding (but also hilarious) but also without her money she'd be working at a Moon Juice trying to manifest her power on her Etsy board.

CAMERON!!!!! MVP. We don't get much of him, but when we do it's always solid gold. 

I cannot believe that one piece of art Miguel was looking at was over $30 million dollars. 

I laughed at that one guy at the meeting asking about Rebekah working on Wall Street and the other guy responding she only worked there for 3 weeks.

[hatchetgirl]

Sigh.  Shame they didn't end with a title card saying that the Neuman's were able to keep all of their real estate holdings and walked away with I think over 40 million.