WeWork Has Filed for Bankruptcy, but Its Co-Founder Adam Neumann Is Still a Billionaire
WeWork, which just declared bankruptcy, may not be doing so hot. But its infamous co-founder is a-okay, at least at the bank.
Adam Neumann, who led WeWork before being pushed out in 2019, has retained at least a $1.7 billion net worth, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. In fact, that number could be even higher: The outlet noted that it wasn’t able to factor in the money he might be receiving from his new venture, Flow, which will oversee multifamily residential properties.
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“It has been challenging for me to watch from the sidelines as WeWork has failed to take advantage of a product that is more relevant today than ever before,” Neumann said in a statement.
Over the years, Neumann was able to make bank from WeWork, with his net worth reaching $2.3 billion in 2021, after he had already left the company. That year, WeWork went public in a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, a deal that revealed a lot about Neumann’s wealth. In the merger filing, his name appeared a whopping 197 times, Bloomberg noted. That included mentions of a $185 million non-compete agreement, a $106 million settlement payment, and $578 million for shares sold by Neumann’s We Holdings to SoftBank, a longtime investor in WeWork.
The company’s bankruptcy now means that SoftBank and other investors will take on millions of dollars in losses. The bankruptcy filing showed that WeWork had $15 billion of assets and $19 billion of liabilities. The entire process is expected to take months, Bloomberg said, and Neumann might become re-involved with WeWork in the future. An anonymous source told the outlet that Neumann had already been approached, and the former CEO’s statement alluded to the possibility.
“With the right strategy and team, a reorganization will enable WeWork to emerge successfully,” he said.
In the meantime, Neumann will be working on Flow, which received $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz and was valued at $1 billion in August 2022, before it even started operating.
WeWork wasn’t quite able to figure out a profitable path in the real estate game, but that doesn’t seem to have deterred Neumann from trying again.
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