Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork

The world is full of braggarts and tricksters. Only responsible hard work leads to long-term sustainable success. The rest is marketing for people who want easy money. This is a great lesson for investors. Anyone easily could bocome a businessman with large amounts of capital and other people's money.

The book was very well written, well researched and thorough. From the standpoint of narrative, I would have liked more of the drama just before, during and after the IPO collapse put under the microscope. I would have liked much more probing of JP Morgan's enabling and ultimate culpability. The focus was clearly on Adam and Rebecca, and that's fair; this certainly heightened the human interest aspect. More reporting on the massive collective failure of the investment banking community (which persisted until the SEC started asking questions), and getting more of these key execs to talk (albeit anonymously) would have been invaluable. All in all, though, it was an excellent read. A good case study of why Wall Street still needs more reform, as well as the opaque venture capital gamesters. Adam and the VCs came out big winners, the employees big losers. Adam and Rebecca are now living the high life in Tel Aviv. So it goes.

Excellent writing made a compelling story with a very honest accounting of much of what is intriguing while broken in start-ups.

The book is well researched and written, definitely worth a read.However one aspect does puzzle me.How you can call someone who has a net worth upward of $700 million a loser makes no logical sense whatsover.Granted he is not a billionaire, but he is certainly not a pauper.Is there perhaps something about the situation she is not revealing.Jealousy perhaps?

Reeves Wiedeman has written a complex, nuanced critique of fraudster billionaire Adam Neumann in his aptly titled book Billion Dollar Loser. The handsome brother of a supermodel, Neumann stands six feet five, serves in the Israeli Navy, and comes to America to promote baby knee pads. When that venture fails, he smells out money, marries Rebekah, the rich cousin of Gweneth Paltrow, and teams up with Miguel McKelvey to start the WeWork business, which flourishes like a religious cult for a decade.Wiedman observes that there is an 18-month work cycle at WeWork. Fresh employees began in a state of euphoria as they worked in a “family,” but within 6 months, they got burned out, and within 18 months they were gone.Paranoid, egotistical, charismatic, Neumann has all the qualities of a religious cult leader. He talks about love, changing the world, and bringing people together, but his life contradicts his message. We learn that he crams more and more employees into smaller and smaller office spaces while he continually expands his own office. His reckless spending on private jets and other lavish indulges speak to how unhinged he is and there “is no adult in the room,” including his narcissistic wife, to put guardrails on his reckless behavior.If you want to read a clear, compelling account of this dumpster fire, I can give Wiedeman’s narrative account a strong recommendation.

It's a very interesting story about Neumann and seems to be researched based on a lot of hearsay from staff. But it didn't really hang together well as it's a collection of tidbits from multiple sources. Probably needed something from Neumann himself but then the veracity might be in question....worth reading nonetheless.

Exceptionally well written and a real page turner. Adam Neuman, a dyslectic college dropout built a cult following through audacity and fearlessness. Like other cult leaders, such as L. Ron Hubbard, Keith Ranieri, Elizbeth Holmes, he promised his victims he alone could lead them to the promised land. Their victims all get sucked into a vortex built on delusions and narcissism.

This may very well go down as the definitive look at Adam Neumann. It certainly provides a great deal of insight into the man and what drove him, his wife, and his company to the brink of near failure and possible insanity. The book is well-written and never skips a beat. The research provides great detail and insight.I do worry that the book does not consider the realities of founding a startup that may, within a longer historical context, make Adam's rise and fall a little more forgivable. Had Adam succeeded, I don't know that his vision and reality distortion field would have been seen the same way, and that is a take and context I felt was missing from the book.Overall, an insightful take on an incredible--almost Shakespearian-- drama.

Se trata de un viaje al desarrollo y caída de una empresa emblemática, cuyo desarrollo estuvo ligado a la personalidad de sus fundadores. Para un CEO, la lección seria tener claros los signos del momento en que se tiene que retirar.

What a ride!!! So far, to me, WeWork was just another fancy name related to creating workstations and employee-friendly environments... And, instead, through this book I discovered a trove of realities behind an immense scam based, as it often happens, on the charisma of an egomaniac but capable salesperson.Wall Street creates and feeds false legends -WeWork was one of them, but when the cards are on the table the hand that fed you can beat you down. This is the story of how it took 10 years to create a personality cult and a few months to destroy it!

A great recounting of one of the biggest business failures in recent history. A page turner that does a deep dive into the debacle that was WeWork -- he's a meglomaniac of the highest order and the story is a great lesson on how business runs these days. Well researched and a front row seat supported by facts and interviews of those who were ringside for this trip.

Tanto la portada como las primeras hojas vienen estropeadas.

After reading this book, it left me slightly disappointed. It lacks the depth I am used to reading other business books. But also the story lacks excitement, while other books I've read did a better job of captivating and writing a thrilling and entertaining story. From the beginning it was clear were all this was heading. Building up tension would have done the story more right. Despite this comments it is an interesting story, but maybe the story arc was too flat