WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann is back on the billionaires list. Here's how the ousted CEO has spent his fortune, from real estate to start ups.

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 24: Adam Neumann and Rebekah Neumann attend the 2018 Time 100 Gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24, 2018 in New York City. — Adam Neumann, left, and his wife, Rebekah Neumann.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images

WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann is back with a new startup.
He's also once again a billionaire, according to Forbes.
Here's how the former CEO has spent his fortune.

Adam Neumann lost his billionaire status in April 2020. Now he's back in the billionaires club, with Forbes listing his net worth as $1.4 billion on their annual billionaires list.

miguel mckelvey adam neumann cofounders wework — Adam Neumann (right) with his cofounder Miguel McKelvey (left).
Scott Legato/Getty

WeWork cofounder and former CEO Adam Neumann made his comeback in the startup world this year, and received a $350 million investment from tech venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which is the firm's largest single investment ever.

Neumann was once worth as much as $14 billion, but saw his fortune dwindle after WeWork's failed IPO and his subsequent resignation from the company. Bloomberg estimated his net worth at $450 million in 2020. Forbes pegged it a bit higher, at $750 million.

In the past decade, Neumann became a millionaire and then a billionaire — and then he lost most of his fortune.

adam and rebekah neumann — Adam Neumann (left) with spouse Rebekah Neumann (right).
Theo Wargo/Getty Images

One of the first businesses Neumann started was Krawlers, which sold baby clothes with knee pads.

"At the time, I was misguided and putting my energy into all the wrong places," Neumann told Business Insider in 2016.

After Neumann met his wife Rebekah, they lived in an East Village studio, an "apartment smaller than this office," Neumann told Business Insider.

Neumann would go on to set his sights on bigger and better real estate once WeWork became successful.

Neumann founded his coworking space company WeWork in 2010 with his wife, Rebekah, and Miguel McKelvey.

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Nine years later, WeWork grew to a $47 billion valuation. The company was under the We Company umbrella, which also includes a co-living venture, WeLive, and the "conscious entrepreneurial school" WeGrow, which announced it would close in fall 2019 at the end of the academic year. In 2020, Forbes reported that Rebekah bought back the rights to WeGrow's curriculum and had plans to relaunch the school.

After WeWork filed to go public in 2019, the company faced intense scrutiny by investors and the media. There were concerns about WeWork's path to profitability and the behavior of its leader, Neumann.

WeWork ended up delaying its IPO on September 16, and Neumann stepped down as CEO on September 24.

In 2021, WeWork went public, after merging with BowX Acquisition Corp.

Neumann and his wife spent more than $80 million on at least five homes while he was running WeWork.

adam neumann wework we company ceo — Adam Neumann, CEO of The We Company.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Their purchases included multiple homes in the New York City area, one in the Hamptons, and a $21 million house in the San Francisco Bay Area that features a guitar-shaped room, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Neumann and his wife bought a house in the Hamptons in 2012 for $1.7 million.

adam neumann hamptons house — An aerial Google Satellite view of Neumann's Hamptons home.
Google Maps

In February 2020, Neumann sold the Water Mill farmhouse for $1.25 million — less than what he paid for it — to a limited liability company, Mansion Global reported. The sale was an off-market transaction, meaning the home was never publicly listed.

In 2016, Neumann purchased a farm estate in Westchester, New York, that included a horse stable, a tennis court, and a pool.

Horse Stable HUNGERFORD, ENGLAND - APRIL 10: Racehorse Silver Quartz looks on during a visit to the Upper Lambourne stables of Archie Watson on April 10. 2019 near Hungerford, England. — A horse stable.
Alex Davidson/Getty Images

The Linden Farm estate in Pound Ridge spans 60 acres.

At the time of purchase, the property included a more than 13,700-square-foot, eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom house; a horse stable and ring for riding; a tennis court; a waterfall and pool; and nearly 4,500 acres of preserved land nearby. The estate was listed for $22 million.

In New York City, Neumann bought a Greenwich Village townhouse for $10.5 million in 2014. He sold it for $13.65 million in 2021.

adam neumann greenwich village house — A Google Maps street view of Neumann's Greenwich Village townhouse.
Google Maps

The six-bedroom townhouse was built in 1847 and comes with wood-burning fireplaces and a private back garden.

He also owned a townhouse in Manhattan's exclusive Gramercy Park neighborhood.

gramercy park nyc — Manhattan's exclusive Gramercy Park.
Getty Images/zxvisual

Neumann bought four units in a Gramercy Park townhouse for a total of $34.7 million back in 2017, per The Real Deal. His purchases included two first-floor units for $7.2 million, a fifth-floor unit for $9.5 million, and a duplex penthouse for $18 million.

In February 2020, Neumann listed the three-floor penthouse suite and first floor duplex apartment for $37.5 million. According to the Compass listing, the unit is "Temporarily Off Market."

Neumann owned a 13,000-square-foot home in the San Francisco Bay Area that he sold for $22.4 million.

guitar house — An aerial Google Satellite view of Neumann's "Guitar House."
Google Maps

As Gillian Tan reported for Bloomberg, Neumann bought the home in 2018 for $21.4 million. The home was listed for $27.5 million after Neumann and his family moved to Israel.

The 11-acre property in Corte Madera, California, has seven bedrooms, a pool and water slide, a spa, a home theater, a racquetball court, and organic gardens, per an old Zillow listing. One of the rooms is shaped like a guitar, earning the house the nickname the "Guitar House."

The property also includes a two-bedroom guest house.

Beyond real estate, Neumann also invested in other startups.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Neumann said he's invested in 49 companies through his family fund.

On behalf of WeWork, Neuman invested in wave-pool startup WaveGarden and the big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton's superfood startup, which sells things like "performance mushrooms," powdered coconut water infused with beets and turmeric, and highly caffeinated coffee.

One source told the Wall Street Journal that Neumann spent more than $100 million on charitable donations.

NASHVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 13: Adam Neumann CEO of WeWork (L) and Ashton Kutcher take photos backstage during Nashville Creator Awards hosted by WeWork at Marathon Music Works on September 13, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for the WeWork Creator Awards) — Adam Neumann (left) with Ashton Kutcher (right).
Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

The sources declined to name specific recipients of Neumann's reported charitable giving.

After Neumann was pushed out of WeWork, the company's biggest investor, SoftBank, had planned to purchase $3 billion worth of WeWork shares from other investors and employees as part of a plan to rescue the coworking company.

adam neumann wework — Adam Neumann, chief executive officer of U.S. co-working firm WeWork, speaks during a signing ceremony in Shanghai, China April 12, 2018.
Jackal Pan/Reuters

$970 million of that was to go toward buying back shares from Neumann, but Softbank's withdrawal from the deal has left the former CEO with a larger portion of WeWork shares that are probably worth much less than SoftBank has planned to offer, according to Bloomberg.

In an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin in 2021, Neumann said actually left the company with $180 million from Softbank.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/Zhfube8
via IFTTT