What is Adam Neumann's net worth and salary?
Adam Neumann is an Israeli-American businessman and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $1.5 billion. Adam Neumann is best known for being the co-founder and former CEO of WeWork. Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey co-founded a company called GreenDesk in 2008 as an eco-friendly co-working space in Brooklyn, New York. The pair sold that business in 2010 and used the proceeds to launch their next venture, WeWork. WeWork raised billions of dollars from investors such as JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Softbank and Benchmark Capital. Softbank alone invested $16 billion into WeWork over the years, $10 billion while Neumann was in charge. Adam cashed out $1 billion worth of his personal shares when it was still a private company.
At its peak in 2021, WeWork was valued at $45 billion in private funding rounds. It was expected to go public at a valuation of $80-$100 billion in late 2021. That did not happen. WeWork filed for bankruptcy in November 2023.
Wealth Evaporation and Return
At his professional peak in mid-2019, Adam's personal paper net worth topped $4 billion based on its $47 billion private valuation. Had the company achieved its predicted public valuation of $80-100 billion, Adam could have been worth as much as $9+ billion. Unfortunately, the WeWork IPO and business at large, fell apart precipitously in the wake of revelations of Adam's profligate spending, mismanagement and the general weakness of the company's operations.
Even after everything fell apart, in October 2019, WeWork's largest investor SoftBank, agreed to buy $3 billion worth of company stock to save the company. From that investment, roughly $1 billion was earmarked to go to Adam personally. The deal was scrutinized widely. It was seen as an overly generous golden parachute for a person who had caused so much damage to his employees and investors.
On April 2, 2020, SoftBank announced that it was pulling out of that deal completely. Over the previous month the world at large, but the real estate world in particular, had been decimated due to the spread of coronavirus. By rescinding their $3 billion cash injection, Neumann personally lost $1 billion. And with that, he also lost his billionaire status, as his net worth dropped to around $400 million.
Neumann sued SoftBank and ultimately an agreement was made where would receive an estimated $700 million in payouts – he received a one-time $106 million cash settlement and was allowed to sell $578 million worth of his shares to the bank. He was also paid a $185 million non-compete fee.
In October 2021, WeWork finally became a public company through a SPAC merger. Neumann has the opportunity to earn a roughly $250 million bonus payment if the merged company maintains a share price above $12. Furthermore, he still owns around 48 million shares of the new public company which on its debut day was worth around $8 billion. At that level, Adam's roughly 8% stake was worth $720 million.
In 2022, Neumann shifted his focus to investing in property in Miami. His new residential real-estate company, Flow, attained an investment of $350 million by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. And in May 2022, it was reported that Neumann was behind Flowcarbon, a start-up carbon credit trading platform running on blockchain.
Valuations
In 2018 WeWork accepted an investment from Softbank that valued that company at $47 billion. At that point Adam's 10% stake in the business was worth $4.7 billion on paper. In August 2019 the company announced its plans to issue a public offering of stock which they hoped would land the company with a public valuation of $40-60 billion. The documents the company submitted to the SEC with their filing were widely derided as being fantasy. Within a few weeks the company reduced their planned valuation target to $20 billion. Some analysts believed the company was worth half that amount or less, potentially as little as $3 billion. At that level, Adam's stake in the company would be worth $300 million, a very far cry from $4+ billion a few years earlier.
WeWork ultimately went public in October 2021 via SPAC at an $8 billion valuation. Two years later the company's market cap was $45 million and in November 2023 the company filed for bankruptcy.
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Controversies
Over the course of several large external investments Adam cashed out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his personal shares while still maintaining a roughly 10% stake in the business. As of this writing he has cashed out to the tune of $700 million. On the same day as some cash-outs, Adam entered into purchase agreements with buildings which he then instantly leased to WeWork. He also registered the trademark for the word "We" which he then sold to his own company for $5.9 million. A September 2019 Wall Street Journal article revealed a laundry list of questionable practices by Adam and his wife Rebekah Paltrow Neumann. Practices like smoking so much weed on a rented private jet to Israel that the owner recalled the jet when he found out, leaving Adam and his companions stranded. The report also detailed Adam and Rebekah's lavish spending on unrelated businesses like a wavepool company and a daycare. Rebekah Paltrow Neumann is Gwyneth Paltrow's first cousin.
On September 24, 2019, We's Board of Directors announced Adam would be removed as CEO from the company.
In October 2019 it was reported that Softbank had agreed to buyout Neumann's remaining stake in the company for $1.7 billion. Softbank also reportedly agreed to pay Neumann a $185 million consulting fee. If this deal actually goes through – there have been numerous lawsuits – Neumann will be a billionaire when it's all said and done after all.
Personal Homes
At their peak, Adam and Rebekah owned a $35 million home in New York City, a 60-acre estate in Westchester County, New York, a $22 million home in the Bay Area and TWO lavish homes in the Hamptons. In total their personal real estate portfolio was at one time worth at least $90 million. Much of the real estate was reportedly purchased with large mortgages backed by his stock in WeWork. It's unclear if and how Adam will be able maintain his portfolio.
In 2023, Neumann listed his luxury Gramercy Park penthouse for $32 million, a $5.5 million cut from when it was originally listed three years ago.
He ultimately sold the Bay Area mansion for $22.4 million, one of their Hamptons homes and the estate in Westchester County, NY.
In June 2021, Adam paid $44 million for two side-by-side Miami Beach properties.
Personal Life
Adam Neumann and his wife, Rebekah Neumann, have six children together. The covenants of WeWork at one point listed their family members as the permanent line of succession for the company. Adam and Rebekah at one point pledged to donate $1 billion to charity from their WeWork wealth. It's generally understood that this pledge evaporated when WeWork evaporated.
Adam's brother-in-law Avi Yehiel is a former professional Israeli footballer and current CEO of Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. In 2022, Neumann donated more than $400,000 to the team and became their main sponsor as part of a three-year agreement.
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