The Cult of We

"The definitive inside story of WeWork, its audacious founder, and what its epic unraveling says about a financial system drunk on the elixir of Silicon Valley innovation-from the Wall Street Journal correspondents whose scoop-filled reporting hastened the company's downfall. WeWork would be worth $10 trillion, more than any other company in the world. It wasn't just an office space provider. It was a tech company-an AI startup, even. Its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences would revolutionize education and housing. One day, mused founder Adam Neumann, a Middle East peace accord would be signed in a WeWork. The company might help colonize Mars. And Neumann would become the world's first trillionaire. This was the vision of Neumann and his primary cheerleader, SoftBank's Masayoshi Son. In hindsight, their ambition for the company, whose primary business was subletting desks in slickly designed offices, seems like madness. Why did so many intelligent people-from venture capitalists to Wall Street elite-fall for the hype? And how did WeWork go so wrong? In little more than a decade, Neumann transformed himself from a struggling baby clothes salesman into the charismatic, hard-partyin