Awaiting Layoffs, WeWork Employees Say Founder’s Payout Is ‘Graft’

Remember Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, HealthSouth, Excel Communications, Global Crossing? As anyone awake at the Trump SEC? A CEO basically stole $1,000,000,000 from investors and no one is talking Sarbanes-Oxley?

We Work workers Good Luck! There is nothing in the Pot left for you, it went to Adam Neumann. Obviously he was a total fraud but was empowered by Misters Son and Dimon who are covering him financially. How they weren’t looking deeper while investing and loaning billions of dollars is unbelievable! Watch the MSNBC interview with Jaime Dimon, he’s very uncomfortable when asked about his role with We Work.

At the high end of Neumann's estimated going away present ($1.7BB according to some sources) this would work out to roughly $340,000 for each of the 5,000 employees said to be laid off in the first wave. Using the lower figure for Neumann's payoff, each would get $200,000 as severance. Where is the old kibbutz spirit that animated the company when Neumann needed people willing to work for the promise of stock awards?

they are demanding that janitors sit on the board of directors, or near enough. does that really make sense for a business to do that? I don't think so, particularly to one that is already looking to shed employees and cut labor costs. some things would be nice to change, like losing that arbitration clause, but allowing the lowest, least educated and least experienced employees to "sit at the table" when making the biggest business decisions is a socialist agenda. If you want to be the boss, start your own company, if not obey the rules you agreed to when your boss hired you.

WeWork was not the only company in NYC that started with the premise of providing shared communal workspace for freelancers and “creatives.” The ones that stayed true to that goal failed because there was never enough money coming in to pay for the space, and permit a profit. WeWork’s strategy quickly changed to profit off the corporate desire to outsource. For decades employment categories have been outsourced; beginning about ten years ago, corporations increasingly desired to outsource their real estate portfolios essentially. With almost inevitable results. I wish the WeWork workers luck the best in what is to come. The one comfort I see is workers banding together for collective action. Maybe this is another example in a US union renaissance.

A former Makerbot employee says welcome to the club.

The company rented out overpriced beanbag cubicles and gave away free snickers. You are not changing the world. How the used car salesman is able to walk away with $1b is both ludicrous and hilarious.

Note to WeWork employees: don’t believe anything you’re told, and those who get out first will get the best deal. Neumann and his spouse looted this thing a long time ago.

Neumann leaving with that kind of severance while leaving the rank and file with such pitiful packages and assistance is obscene. If he had ANY decency, he would do some kind of symbolic gesture where he takes $1.00 and gives the rest to the employees. If he is so deserving of that kind of money, it should be no problem for him to be successful again. I mean he has all the markings of a natural-born winner any investor with a modicum of sense could see: For example, he's White, het, male. I mean, common, THATS a winner in anyone's book !

The only humanity these people will receive will be some public relations firm phony worded manifesto wishing these people good luck. Meanwhile all the golden pheasants will walk away with millions of dollars.

This is another sad example of what is driving income inequality in this country. One man receives an exorbitant income of over $48 million per year while mismanaging the company so badly that he is forced out and thousands of employees will be laid off. What is his punishment, a $1 billion exit package. What is wrong with the way capitalism is working in America? I guess we should get it from the name - "capitalism" is rule by those with capital and the system is stacked against those without.

I file this under "there's a downside for everything". The whole "work as substitute for religion" thing was great for higher ups when they conducted their workplace in a way that was vaguely kind of consistent with what most people in the US think of as a "religion". Once they started deviating from that they started finding out that people who invest almost their entire identity in something will get pretty angry if their "identity" is changed to something they don't want. I guess there is an upside to a workforce that is there to go in, do a job, and then go home and live their life.

Soft Bank lost billions it invested in WeWork yet somehow had to pay Andy Neumann another billion on his way out, plus "consulting" fees. He should have left with his tail between his legs and his worthless shares in the company he founded and then mismanaged - I'm sure he has millions in investments, homes & that private jet. Yet it is going to be thousands of employees who are going to be fired or replaced by lower-paid contractors, and somehow that's supposed to be good capitalism. Phooey.

The end game of WeWork (or We Company or whatever) has only just begun. The employees will wind up with no voice whatsoever because there will likely not be a company when the dust settles. The layoffs will be a footnote to the fight that will soon start as We tries to get out of leases for underperforming office sites; if you think that these suddenly overexposed landlords will take this existential threat lying down, you are as gullible as everyone who bought into Neumann's hippy-dippy Ponzi scheme. It would come as no surprise if certain landlords decided that they would rather cherry pick the profitable locations for themselves. Since each site is likely actually leased to one or other special purpose vehicle (SPV), given We's penchant for extremely complex, yet self-serving, business stuctures, it's well within the realm of possibility. Look for a feeding frenzy among bankruptcy and real estate counsel as the real action starts. There is nothing there for the employees. For many in the near term, no job. For anyone foolish enough to stay, no future and likely no company. They would all be better off trying to forget Neumann's messianic ranting, bail out, and try to find new jobs.

It’s easier to get a new job when one is currently employed. Of course, we all feel terrible for WeWork employees. However, speaking for myself, I’d have jumped ship as soon as I learned about how deeply messed up things were with their egomaniacal leader.

So the grifter that started this scheme walks away with a billion dollars and the people who actually worked get nothing.

Nuemann is the epitome of greed and lack of accountability. This is why so many people are tired of the 1%. Private jets while people are going to lose their jobs?

No one deserves 46 million a year. No one. This is sickening. And now people are going to lose their jobs. Perhaps Neumann should divide one year's salary by the number of people being laid off because of his incompetence and give it to them so they won't lose their homes or apartments. Can I say it again? 46 million a year is sickening. It shouldn't even be allowed.

Adam Neuman was no less of a con artist than Bernie Madoff was. The only difference being that he had a raft of lawyers vet every one of his efforts to "steal" money from the company. Neumann and his lawyers ultimately won, while investors and workers lost.

Is this a joke? Because it’s not funny. WeWork expanded by borrowing from A to buy real state, then tried to sell stock to borrow from B to pay A. Meantime the real state goes on used. If they want to sell it back, they have to over price it to cover their losses. They will run out of cash any day now, and all this ‘humane’ garbage will go by the way side, with a big sign at the door: get out. News for you people – your company will not have a penny to over your unemployment vacation, much less pay you a divided. Smell the roses people.

99% of these tech employees would laugh hysterically at you if 5 years ago you advised them to organize in a union. Now who's laughing?

WeWork never had a profitable business model but was kept afloat by Softbank's moronic investments and valuations. Softbank is responsible for Neumann retaining control even though Softbank owns 80% of the stock. So it dumped in more cash to gain control and postpone the inevitable. These employees had it good for awhile but the party's over.

People who follow bunco artists like Neumann never learn. He, like many others, is basically amoral and assumes that the workers who follow him are just as amoral as he is. The word "humanely" doesn't exist in his vocabulary.

Welcome to capitalism kids. Next time, join a union!

The Dark Side lives. When push comes to shove, the big boys will protect their own.

Duh...Republican or Democrat, CEO or politician, this country's "leaders" share one seemingly genetically based behavioral trait...perverse greed, aka sociopathy.

Neumann should go to prison. With his board.

Services and technologies that have no other mission, except to "disrupt" are always unstable, operate as a roulette spin against investor bets, and have no real concern for staff. The problem is the startling dissonance between happy-talk about culture or values and what ends up happening to people who work there. Why do we never celebrate entrepreneurs who want to both make a sound, useful product or service AND create a great place to work for people they actually value? Instead, we hear about big money "unicorns" and other frothy flim-flams that are mostly rent-taking operations that add no value to our society.

Sham Scamman of WizWonks mastered the art of failing up! This new abby normal economy where winner takes all and the crumbs and bag holders hit the bricks. Ahhh.....the new American SCREAM economy was once a beautiful dream because you had to be asleep to realize it!

Order of magnitude math on this: $1 billion payout. 10,000 employees. Comes to about $100,000 per employee. So the CEO's payout along could employ 10,000+ people for one full year each. Doesn't make much sense.

reminds me of the demise of my job at GM in 1987 as a result of a plant closing and where thousand of hourly employees were let go. I maintained a longstanding anger against GM for this, and to this day I refuse to buy a GM vehicle. good luck to those on the brink of losing their jobs or possibly contracted out from wework. my only advise is that their stand by aggressive and one there is no apology on their part for actions taken against a giant who lives without a conscience.

The founder of the company is entitled to whatever he wants. It's not like he was hired later. You would not have a company without him. Nevertheless, it is hard to live with.

Welcome to the real world. You are the only one who will look out for you and your career. Companies may talk about a 'Family Environment' or ' People Power' or other such feel good slogans, but when things get tough, those at the top get their Golden Parachutes and you are shown the door without even a hanky. Do a good job because that is what makes you feel good, but never forget: The loyalty arrow only goes one way. These observations are the result of a 45 year career that spanned from low to high, from the East to California, in industry, non-profits and retail, union and non-union.

A perfect example of how the tech and financial industries work. Neumann gets $46 million per year, the company buys him a $60 million private jet and then a $1 billion severance when fired for egregious behavior as WeWork implodes. Meanwhile service employees become hourly contractors and engineers are suddenly laid off.

The problem can be traced back to the corporate structure, something many people don't pay attention to when choosing a start-up to work for. Neumann owned "super" shares that gave him 10:1 voting rights, which left the Board pretty much powerless to get rid of him without his consent. They didn't want to give him that huge severance package...they had no choice. That was Neumann's price for agreeing to disappear.

So typical. The workers lose their jobs, and Neumann, who drove the company into the ground, walks away with $1 billion. Want to know why voters like Bernie and Warren? This is your answer. What we have now is Socialism for the rich, and penury for the workers.

This isn't the 90's before the tech bubble bursting in the early 00's when stock option percentages of equity were reasonably fair considering the risk and amount of work. Now, it's a checkbox (unless you are truly early) and even early folks don't get the percentage equity they used to. With the complicated stock structures, Skype-like preferences in buying back purchased options, and greater inequality of stock distribution, even if you reach IPO, the payouts might pay back your overtime for the years of extra hours you put in. I do hope the WeWorkers get a fair exit package, and that Neumann sees his lottery ticket platinum parachute reduced. Neumann doesn't deserve to be rewarded so richly for problems he has caused.

The ideal solution would be for all employees to quit over the period of a few days effectively dismantling the company wiping out the drifters remaining consulting fees.

Very unfortunate outcome. I think it is great that workers are banding together and trying to make the best of it - and looking out for those at the bottom of the WeWork food-chain. But the stock-options? That’s essentially saying that you want all the potential upside of a startup with none of the downside. If you find stock options are part of your compensation package, think of a big roulette wheel; it will help when your number does not come up. The payoff to Neumann? Sickening. I’m glad it’s private money going down the sinkhole this time, but sorry for all the rank and file that take the brunt. Tent story is quite the WeWork allegory...

WeWork is not the only company that bears scrutiny. SoftBank has a complex financing scheme that reminds me of Enron. If you read enough articles you will get a picture that there is too much money promised in too many places . The private markets also need to be looked into. Opaque business plans and financial engineering frauds culminated in the last two stock market melt downs Is Dodd-Frank strong enough to keep this next collapse corralled to a minor corner ?

It draws a line, but perhaps by engaging with WeWork's clients and getting their feedback could have a big impact for the employees. As an example, are there good relations with the clients and the cleaners? A customer's voice is worth a lot.

Maybe the company can give them each a bottle of tequila on the way out? Compensation for underwater stock options? Ha! Welcome to the world of corporate capitalism. You followed the prophet and he led you down the predictable path- good for him, bad for you. At least you get fired in a great economy, unlike millions who lost their jobs in 2008-10. There are plenty of jobs, albeit without the messianic overtones.