Inside Adam Neumann’s Cushiony Exit Package

Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann pulled in a stock award worth around $245 million in February as part of his exit package from the coworking company.

Although the coworking founder’s golden parachute was less than the original $1.7 billion agreed upon, Neumann’s exit package still gave him $200 million in cash, allowed him to sell $578 million in WeWork Stock and refinance $432 million in debt. 

In short, Neumann was awarded for almost tanking the company he founded.

“Generous would be an understatement,” said Conor Callahan, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who studies exit packages. “It’s going to be something people are going to be very upset about.”

Initially, SoftBank had agreed to purchase $3 billion in WeWork shares from stockholders, which included the $1 billion golden parachute. 

However, SoftBank attempted to pull out of the deal last year. After Neumann filed a lawsuit against the Japanese conglomerate, an agreement was reached with him in February.