0:00

It's January 2019 and you're

0:02

one of thousands of WeWork employees flying into

0:04

Los Angeles from all over the world. Ashton

0:07

Kutcher is on stage and the Red Hot

0:09

Chili Peppers are there for a private concert.

0:12

This is the most extravagant company event

0:14

you have ever seen. There's

0:16

just one problem. Adam Newman,

0:18

the charismatic CEO of WeWork, is

0:21

spending investors' money at a reckless

0:23

rate. And in a

0:25

few months, the illusion of this revolutionary

0:27

unicorn company is going to fade away.

0:30

We Crashed is a six-part series

0:32

about the meteoric rise and swift

0:34

fall of WeWork hosted by me,

0:36

David Brown. Join me as

0:38

we discuss new details about the company,

0:40

including Adam's wife, Rebecca Newman, and her

0:42

involvement in the company. You're about to

0:44

hear a clip from We Crashed. You

0:47

can follow We Crashed on the Wondery app

0:49

or wherever you get your podcasts. It

0:59

was June 2017 and the Barclays

1:01

Center in Brooklyn was packed. Nearly

1:03

every seat of the arena was filled with

1:05

thousands of Baruch College graduates and their families.

1:07

I'm looking at all the parents, I'm looking

1:09

at balloons, I'm seeing horns, just people smiling.

1:12

I think I had a smile on my

1:14

face probably the whole time. Juan-Med Francis was

1:16

graduating second in his class, which meant he

1:18

had one of the best seats in the

1:20

house. I was on stage and it was

1:22

just like, wow, I'll be

1:24

seated next to, you know, some distinguished

1:26

people. The year before, Senator Chuck

1:29

Schumer had been the commencement speaker. This

1:31

year, though, was different because this

1:33

year, the person giving the speech was

1:36

also graduating just like Kwame. Welcome

1:39

Baruch College Class of 2017. As

1:43

soon as he walks on stage, this tall guy, long

1:45

hair, slick back, it looked like he just pulled out

1:47

the robe out of his trunk and he's like, all

1:49

right, I got to don this little thing for this

1:51

ceremony. But I think if he had it his way,

1:53

he'd be in a t-shirt and some vans. Adam

1:56

Newman, all six feet, five inches

1:58

of him, had taken fifth. 15 years

2:00

from his first class to finally get

2:02

his college degree. Here he was.

2:05

He looked out at a sea of black mortar

2:07

boards and clasped his hands together in what looked

2:09

like a gesture of prayer. It's

2:11

my honor and privilege to graduate with all of

2:14

you today. With his

2:16

billowing robe, flowing black hair and

2:18

arms outstretched, Adam looked more

2:20

like a preacher than what he actually was,

2:23

the CEO of a multi-billion

2:25

dollar startup called WeWork. And

2:28

Adam was here to spread the spirit of

2:30

we. It was definitely

2:32

not a traditional commencement speech. The

2:35

next revolution is going to be

2:37

the we revolution. And the

2:39

we revolution is going to be

2:41

led by the we generation. And

2:43

the we generation does not discriminate

2:46

between age, race, gender, or religion.

2:49

They're throwing their hands up, they're fist pumping, you know,

2:51

people are standing up and cheering them on. You could

2:53

think of somebody being the life of the

2:56

party, you could think of him. So

2:59

as Kwame and the other students listened, Adam

3:01

told them his story, how he had first moved

3:04

to New York from Israel to get a degree

3:06

at Baruch College. I spent my

3:08

first two years in Baruch, studying a

3:10

little bit and partying a lot. But

3:13

then a close friend of his came from Israel to

3:15

visit. He looked at me and said,

3:17

is this why you left Israel? Is

3:20

this why you left your family and your loved

3:22

ones, everyone you care about, to go party in

3:24

New York City? I was

3:26

inspired by his words and by his

3:28

harsh criticism. I woke up the next

3:31

morning and said it's time to start

3:33

my first business adventure. Eventually

3:35

Adam left Baruch behind as his business career

3:37

took off. But he was

3:40

here today, he said, because even after he'd become

3:42

a billionaire, all his grandma

3:44

ever wanted was for him to finish

3:46

college. And I asked Esti,

3:48

who paid for my full tuition, she

3:50

really did want me to graduate, she

3:52

really did. And

3:54

she kept asking me every year, when are you

3:57

graduating, when are you graduating? And I

3:59

Said, Esti, you know we've done it. They have a family

4:01

would build a swig were doing

4:03

well. Know when are you graduating?

4:05

I need to hang gets above

4:08

my bed. It was a good

4:10

story and Adams was a great

4:12

storytellers. He commanded a presence unlike

4:14

any other he doesn't need so

4:17

everybody's attention so is very different.

4:19

A different kind of message. We

4:21

are we any we work together

4:23

with ten I thought. We

4:27

were the. Business Adam found it was

4:29

more than just accompanied him. Yes,

4:31

he wanted to become the world's

4:33

first fruits for he also truly

4:35

believe that his company was fundamentally

4:37

change, not just how people work

4:39

and how they live, how they

4:41

raise children, how they communicate with

4:43

one another. Adam believed he was

4:45

on the brink of making history.

4:49

And in a way you know he was.

4:52

Because. Adam Newman was about to preside

4:54

over the largest, fastest wipe out of

4:56

shareholder value by a single company since

4:59

Enron. Looking

5:01

back, maybe the most telling moment of the

5:03

whole commencement speech was when he shared a

5:05

story about his first date with his wife.

5:07

Rebecca. Went on the first

5:09

states with me. And within five minutes.

5:12

Now I say five minutes to be nice

5:14

but it's truly so. For ten seconds See

5:16

looked me straight in the eyes and see

5:18

says zoo My friends are full of. That

5:22

was a preview of

5:25

we Crashed Subscribe Today

5:27

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5:29

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