The Cult of We by Eliot Brown

The Cult of We by Eliot Brown

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER - A FINANCIAL TIMES, FORTUNE, AND NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - The riveting, definitive account of WeWork, one of the wildest business stories of our time.--Matt Levine, Money Stuff columnist, Bloomberg Opinion

The definitive story of the rise and fall of WeWork (also depicted in the upcoming Apple TV+ series WeCrashed, starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway), by the real-life journalists whose Wall Street Journal reporting rocked the company and exposed a financial system drunk on the elixir of Silicon Valley innovation.

LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

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-partying CEO of a company worth $47 billion--on paper. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the six-foot-five Israeli transplant looked the part of a messianic truth teller. Investors swooned, and billions poured in.

Neumann dined with the CEOs of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, entertaining a parade of power brokers desperate to get a slice of what he was selling: the country's most valuable startup, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a generation-defining moment.

Soon, however, WeWork was burning through cash faster than Neumann could bring it in. From his private jet, sometimes clouded with marijuana smoke, he scoured the globe for more capital. Then, as WeWork readied a Hail Mary IPO, it all fell apart. Nearly $40 billion of value vaporized in one of corporate America's most spectacular meltdowns.

Peppered with eye-popping, never-before-reported details, The Cult of We is the gripping story of careless and often absurd people--and the financial system they have made.

Eliot Brown covers startups and venture capital for The Wall Street Journal. He joined the Journal in 2010 to cover real estate, and previously worked at The New York Observer. He lives in San Francisco.

Maureen Farrell covers initial public offerings for The Wall Street Journal, where she has been on staff since 2013. She previously worked at CNN, Forbes, Debtwire, and Mergermarket. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780593237113
ISBN 10	0593237110
Title	The Cult of We
Author	Eliot Brown
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2021-07-20
Number of pages	464
Prizes	Short-listed for Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) - Best in Business Book Award 2021, Long-listed for Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2021
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.