At WeWork’s peak, Adam Neumann’s stock may have been worth around $20 billion. Just before the company’s attempt to go public failed, the firm’s valuation had been slashed from $47 billion down to as low as $10 billion, meaning Neumann’s stake would have only been worth $3 billion.
While Neumann won’t be able to dump his stock on the stock exchange now, he has still made millions of dollars from WeWork through selling WeWork stock “during most of the investment rounds since 2014.”
Additionally, he borrowed around $380 million from several banks, such as JPMorgan, UBS, and Credit Suisse, which was secured by a pledge of a portion of his shares.
Now, these banks are looking at new terms that would require Neumann to put up some of his other properties or assets as collateral. Neumann set up a $500 million credit line with the banks before WeWork filed its S-1.
While terms of the loan are not detailed, one thing is clear: Neumann has been living a lavish lifestyle without making a salary. The assumption could be made that this money comes from the millions of dollars banks have loaned him.
If the IPO had gone as planned, this may have been perceived as a normal loan, but unfortunately for the banks, that is not the case.
