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Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
21–30 of 245 posts
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does WeWork not have a crunchbase profile page? I'm curious about who all managed to get out before the Softbank fiasco. Were employees allowed to sell shares on the secondary market, or are they all effectively hosed now?
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wework
Thanks, not showing up in search for some reason.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#23With $700M extracted and long term leases to the company for properties that he owns... One could easily ride off into the sunset.
It will be interesting, and insightful, to see if that is the tact he takes. If he does... It will add credibility to the already strong case for this being deliberate deceit versus unchecked ignorant hubris.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#24> Mr. Neumann still has allies among the directors and the ability to fire the entire board thanks to shares he controls that carry extra votes. It defies imagination that a fund would put 10B into a company whose CEO is accountable to no one. I think we may also see new leadership in SoftBank, or at least their next fund.
This is true of many large companies today, though. Facebook comes to mind.
What I don't understand is what is so mind boggling to GP? This is the norm for the vast majority of private companies.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#25Didn't the two head honchos already redirect some cashflow to their accounts? I think they and their grandchildren will be fine... Softbank on the other hand...
Yes... And Softbank was so high on kool-aid they let Adam sell them $700M of his stake. Absolute worst use of investment at that level...
Taking a little out to derisk yourself after a B or greater round is reasonable. Taking almost 10% of a round is obnoxious.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#26Didn't investors, especially SoftBank, enable this behavior? They deserve as much blame for this mess as he does, if not more.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#27> Mr. Neumann still has allies among the directors and the ability to fire the entire board thanks to shares he controls that carry extra votes. It defies imagination that a fund would put 10B into a company whose CEO is accountable to no one. I think we may also see new leadership in SoftBank, or at least their next fund.
This is awesome, it might force the private sector to regulate governance structures more strictly.
The exchanges and indexes already do this, but haven't gotten around to cultish companies that consider themselves tech. The exchanges and indexes say things like “minimum X% of float needs to be in the market”, so you dont have 1% of the company trading with the CEO now being a billionaire on paper from 99% of shares. Ive seen Chinese exchange allows for shenanigans like that, for example, while US ones dont. They could easily dictate share class structures, ultimate beneficial ownership rules, and more.
This would force VCs and PE to require changes no matter how much FOMO they have.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#28> Mr. Neumann still has allies among the directors and the ability to fire the entire board thanks to shares he controls that carry extra votes. It defies imagination that a fund would put 10B into a company whose CEO is accountable to no one. I think we may also see new leadership in SoftBank, or at least their next fund.
The last 10 years have been investors competing over startups, so this is what you get.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#29With $700M extracted and long term leases to the company for properties that he owns... One could easily ride off into the sunset. It will be interesting, and insightful, to see if that is the tact he takes. If he does... It will add credibility to the already strong case for this being deliberate deceit versus unchecked ignorant hubris.
He’s quoted as saying he wants to be “President of the World” and live forever. This guy isn’t riding off into the sunset.
Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO
#30He adds very little of value at this point, and only harms the reputation and uses it as a way to funnel VC money into his bank account.