logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2020
35m 31s

Season 1, Episode 5, The Universe Does N...

bloomberg
About this episode

Adam Neumann always had wild ambitions. By 2017, he had found an even wilder investor who wanted to fund those ambitions: SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Adam spent his billions from SoftBank on competitive tactics, seemingly random investments, and even an elementary school. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet explores why this free-wheeling spending was so odd: Adam knew this was a bad idea. In exclusive recordings from internal meetings in 2016, he warned his employees that they had to cut back on WeWork's "spending culture." But once the money poured in, it appeared like he forgot his own advice.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Up next
Jul 2020
Introducing: Blood River, A New Podcast From Bloomberg
The killers of Berta Caceres had every reason to believe they’d get away with murder. More than 100 other environmental activists in Honduras had been killed in the previous five years, yet almost no one had been punished for the crimes. Bloomberg’s Blood River follows a four-yea ... Show More
3m 43s
Jul 2020
Season 1, Episode 6, IPO -- Just Kidding
WeWork had spent nine years chasing lightning-fast growth, burning billions of dollars, and expanding around the world. In 2019, the company reached a turning point: WeWork needed even more cash, and Adam Neumann decided to take his company public with a massive IPO. But suddenly ... Show More
41m 58s
Jul 2020
Season 1, Episode 7, In the End, There Was Adam
After WeWork's failed IPO, thousands of employees were laid off and the company teetered on the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, ousted CEO Adam Neumann flew to Israel with a generous exit package in hand. In this final episode of Foundering, reporter Ellen Huet surveys the wreckage ... Show More
43 m
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
The Deal Room: The Venture Fund that changed everything!
tail spinning
19m 59s
Feb 2024
Where to find Episodes 2-7 of WeCrashed
In the first episode of WeCrashed, you hear about how Adam Neumann, the visionary behind WeWork, sent the company’s first few employees his famous 1am email vowing to build the “largest networking community on the planet.” Even on day one, Adam had grand ambitions to change the w ... Show More
43s
Dec 2024
The Deal Room: Investment Banking & Attempted Murder
In this episode, Anthony Cheung and Stephen Barnett discuss the latest news in finance, including Nvidia's cash management and potential M&A strategies, BlackRock's aggressive acquisitions in private markets, ongoing antitrust challenges facing Google, the approval of Vodafone an ... Show More
33m 38s
Feb 2024
Adam Neumann Buying Back WeWork? & Eli Lilly Worth More than Tesla
Episode 252: Neal and Toby explain how Adam Neumann is attempting to buy back his bankrupt company WeWork. Plus ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. are teaming up to bring a massive streaming service for sports. It's kinda like... Cable! Next, Eli Lilly's stock price is giving Tesla a run ... Show More
26m 53s
Feb 2025
What Does Masayoshi Son Want?
The man behind SoftBank has now teamed up with OpenAI to invest up to $500 billion in American AI infrastructure over the next four years. Masayoshi Son has a vision for the future of the world. But what does that vision look like? Lionel Barber is the former Editor-in-Chief of ... Show More
30m 38s