Podcasts / The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Adam Neumann: The Real Story Behind WeWork, A $4 Billion Cab Ride, And Surviving A $460 Million Debt

Sep 28, 2026 · 2h 15m

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EP · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · Adam Neumann: The Real Story Behind WeWork, A $4 Billion Cab Ride, And Surviving A $460 Million Debt2:15:13

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0:00I went from 13,000 employees to three employees in one week.

0:03WeWork was one of the fastest physical global growth the world's ever seen, but everything went wrong.

0:08We lost everything.

0:09In 2019, we were publicly filed at S1.

0:11Company valued at around $47 billion.

0:13The S1 showed some losses, three billion in the past three years.

0:16Also, the S1 revealed when you were CEO that you'd also trademarked the word we and sold it back to the company.

0:21That's not true.

0:22People sometimes think I was fired because the Wall Street Journal said so.

0:25Not true.

0:25I wanted to hear directly from you.

0:27What happened?

0:28You really want to go there?

0:29I'm happy to.

0:30The floor is yours.

0:31So in WeWork, the business grew faster than I could grow.

0:35And every step I take, suddenly the ego starts coming up.

0:39Oh, 20 billion valuation, billion valuation in Japan.

0:42On top of that, 5 billion valuation in China.

0:45It suddenly became about the money.

0:47I forgot what we were all about.

0:48And when I lost it, everybody lost it.

0:51And the next thing is we found ourselves being forced to go public when we weren't ready.

0:55Then you resigned as CEO of WeWork after the IPO didn't pan out.

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