Forbes on Thursday lopped more than $3 billion from its estimated net worth of WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann as the company faced skepticism regarding its future.
Earlier this year, Neumann was listed by Forbes as being among the richest people with an estimated net worth of $4.1 billion.
Forbes revised that figure to $600 million — by no means paltry but a big, quick plunge in wealth.
Neumann, whose unconventional approach to business and governance pushed boundaries on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, announced last month that he was stepping down as chief executive.
He exits the corner office as the company tries to reposition an initial public offering campaign that has sputtered.
Neumann, who will stay on as chairman, has faced questions over his perceived self-dealing, as well as the ability of his fast-growing company to become profitable.
His audacious approach to business won support from key investors, including the Japanese group SoftBank.
But his loose approach to corporate governance and conflicts of interest garnered scrutiny, as did a Wall Street Journal expose detailing drug and alcohol use and Neumann’s aspirations to become the world’s first trillionaire.
Known for his long hair and a wardrobe that favors T-shirts, Neumann, 40, is also recognized as a serial entrepreneur.
The New York-based startup that he launched in 2010 has touted itself as revolutionizing commercial real estate by offering shared, flexible workspace arrangements, and has operations in 111 cities in 29 countries.
However, the company, which lost $1.9 billion last year, has faced skepticism over its ability to make money, especially if the global economy slows significantly.
Architects of its plan for a stock market debut had scaled back the valuation target for the company from $47 billion to under $20 billion as they pushed back the timeframe.
The IPO is now unlikely to happen before the end of the year, according to a source, adding that at the earliest it could occur in 2020.11OCT2019 0Share
A delegation of Pak occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) Displaced Persons today called on Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and thanked him for the Union Cabinet’s decision to include 5300 families of Displaced Persons also in the Rehabilitation Package, which was announced in 2016 on the directions of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
The members of the delegation wanted to seek certain clarifications about the implementation part of the Cabinet decision taken yesterday and requested that, following yesterday’s cabinet decision, the benefits of the Rehabilitation Package should be uniformly available to 5300 Displaced families which had been left out of the package earlier and the procedure for this should be simple.
Following the request from the members of delegation, Dr Jitendra Singh arranged a meeting of the delegation with senior officers of Union Home Ministry dealing with the subject of Rehabilitation Package. The members of the delegation later said, their inputs and suggestions were received with patience which, the Home Ministry would examine in course of time and try to make the procedure as simple and convenient as possible.
Dr Jitendra Singh described the Cabinet decision of yesterday as yet another major breakthrough for Jammu & Kashmir under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the government has the capacity and courage to take decisions and therefore, it is this government which can take the decisions to resolve these issues.
Dr Jitendra Singh appealed to guard against false rumors or misinformation sought to be spread by certain vested interests, who are uncomfortable with the government’s decisive approach to resolve all the J&K related matters, whether that be Article 370, 35-A or West Pak Refugees or PoJK Displaced Persons or Kashmiri Pandits.
In the times to come, Dr Jitendra Singh assured that the new set up after 31st of October will unfold huge benefits which will be realised only when these unfold in the next few months.
Besides Mahendra Mehta, prominent members of the delegation included Shyam Gupta, Madan Mohan, Bodh Raj, Manoj Khandelwal and others.