Apple TV+’s WeCrashed takes viewers on a wild, fictionalized ride through the rise and fall of the office space startup WeWork. In the series, Jared Leto plays Adam Neumann, the enigmatic co-founder and former CEO of WeWork, which was at one time thought to be valued at $47 billion. Anne Hathaway appears as his wife, Rebekah (who just so happens to be Gwyneth Paltrow’s cousin). She was the company’s chief brand and impact officer and led the education program WeGrow.
By the time WeWork went public in 2021, the company was valued at $9 billion, a huge drop from the original figure. So where exactly are Adam and Rebekah from WeWork now? And does WeCrashed really give us the whole story?
Is Adam Neumann still rich?
Despite presiding over WeWork’s meteoric fall from grace, Adam Neumann managed to exit the startup as a very wealthy person.
As reported by The New York Times, in September 2019, after nine years at the helm of WeWork, Adam stepped down as the company’s CEO. Despite relinquishing his controlling stake in the company, Adam reportedly managed to hold on to his wealth. Per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, following WeWork’s merger with BowX Acquisition Corp. in October 2021, Adam became worth $2.3 billion. Per Bloomberg, his net worth is based upon several elements: “There’s the $185 million charge for a non-compete agreement for Neumann, $106 million for a settlement payment, and $578 million for shares sold by his We Holdings LLC to SoftBank. There’s also an extension on a $432 million loan from the Japanese firm, secured by some of his WeWork stake.” Basically, Adam is doing just fine despite being forced to resign from his own company.
However, as Fortune notes, in 2019 Adam was estimated to be worth a whopping $14 billion, so he’s definitely been negatively impacted by WeWork’s first failure to go public. He’s probably not budgeting to be able to afford daily Starbucks like I am, though. As of January 2022, The Wall Street Journal reports, “Entities tied to Mr. Neumann have been quietly acquiring majority stakes in more than 4,000 apartments valued at more than $1 billion in Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and other U.S. cities.” While Adam has remained fairly quiet about what he’s planning to do post-WeWork, his real estate holdings might point to the answer.
What is Rebekah Neumann doing post-WeWork?
Along with being WeWork’s chief brand and impact officer, Rebekah was responsible for founding WeGrow, a school housed in WeWork’s Chelsea location. When she stepped down from her powerful WeWork role, she also had to let go of her dream school, at least for now.
In October 2019, it was announced that WeWork’s fledgling school would be shuttering after the 2019-2020 school year, per HuffPost. As the school’s CEO, Rebekah was left without a job. However, as Forbes reported in 2020, the Neumanns “acquired the rights to the curriculum of the elementary school,” although they no longer own the WeGrow name.
Per Forbes, Rebekah is reportedly planning to use the curriculum to launch SOLFL (pronounced “soulful”), an acronym that stands for Student of Life for Life. Asher Gold, Rebekah’s spokesperson, told the publication that the plan was for SOLFL to offer both remote and in-person learning opportunities, with a view to expanding the program all around the world. SOLFL’s website reveals that the brand hopes to provide “a hyper-localized, Earth-based, holistic approach to teaching and learning,” but the organization appears to be a work in progress.
It would seem that Rebekah’s plans for SOLFL might be quietly moving forward, though, as her husband was photographed wearing a “Student for Life” shirt in October 2021. New York Post reporter Theo Wayt shared on Twitter that Adam was wearing the shirt at WeWork’s SPAC day party, and reportedly told attendees, “A brand without a past does not have a future.”
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Are Rebekah and Adam still together?
After stepping down from their WeWork roles, the Neumanns spent some time living in Tel Aviv, per Vanity Fair. However, according to the publication, the family has since returned to the United States, where they have been staying in the Hamptons (their property apparently backs on to Gwyneth’s estate). They previously owned a townhouse in Greenwich Village, New York, which they sold in August 2021 for $13.65 million, and Vanity Fair suggests that the couple has offloaded other properties since parting ways with WeWork.
Vanity Fair also reports that the couple now has six children (including two sets of twins), and that they’re “hatching plans for their next ventures.” As for what those new ventures might be, the New York Post suggests that Adam has another big idea in the works. An insider allegedly told the tabloid in April 2021, “It involves what happened in the world because of the pandemic… He’s got big plans and he’s waiting for the right time to announce them.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Adam’s next business venture could be linked to his recent real estate purchases throughout the United States. Per the newspaper, “Mr. Neumann has told friends and associates of his ambitions to build a company that would shake up the rental-housing industry, say people familiar with the matter.” While any firm business ideas remain unknown, a source alleged to The Wall Street Journal that Adam “has said he wants to create a widely recognizable apartment brand stocked with amenities.” Basically, if you ever dreamed of living at WeWork, you may be able to do just that if these rumors turn out to be true.
As for the state of the couple’s marriage, a source told the New York Post, “Adam and Rebekah are devoted to one another and devoted to those kids. There couldn’t be a bigger contrast with how Adam is portrayed publicly and what a family man he is.” Despite a tumultuous time in business, it sounds as though Adam and Rebekah remain devoted to one another and their children.
What went wrong for the Neumanns?
As portrayed in WeCrashed, Adam Neumann’s personality was often at the center of WeWork, for better and for worse. The New York Times describes Adam as “a towering, hard-partying Israeli with long hair and a penchant for leather jackets and tequila.” The publication also notes that, as WeWork’s CEO, he became accustomed to a “lavish lifestyle,” which involved regular trips on private jets, living in luxury homes, and the freedom to “fund his pet projects” on a whim.
However, before the company could go private, some of Adam’s practices were called into question. The New York Times notes that several decisions made by the CEO may have allowed him to personally benefit from the venture, such as selling the “We” trademark to the company for $5.9 million. Per the publication, Adam also reportedly “took stakes in buildings and leased them to WeWork,” which obviously drew criticism from his investors.
As reported by Fortune, Adam’s personal finances also started to reflect badly on him. Per a report, Adam took a “$500 million line of credit from investment banks to boost his own stake in the company, plus a $362 million loan from WeWork itself owing to his early exercise of a stock option.”
Despite all of this, WeWork and the Neumanns have survived the company’s fall from unicorn status. While it’s unclear what Adam and Rebekah will do next, it seems as though they’ll have no shortage of funds to do it with.
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What Happened to WeWork’s Adam and Rebekah Neumann?
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