This article introduces the fascinating story behind the WeWork con by bringing out a few noteworthy points in one of the MBA classes. For example,

” Neumann repeatedly offered that WeWork was making profits even as it was burning cash and nowhere near profitable on a real metric (e.g., Operating Income)… Were utterances such as “We are definitely turning a profit. I’m bored of the businesses that don’t turn a profit.” a general representation of Neumann’s disregard for details (a fascinating point in the podcast)? The natural next step with many preexisting and artificially embellished metrics which ask us to ignore real, recurring expenses that correspond to cash outflows or otherwise directly reduce value (ignoring depreciation, amortization, taxes, stock compensation, etc.)?”

 

“Sham? Con? Graft? Effective, if not legally determined fraud? What is the best way to phrase this?” You can read the rest of the article by McCombs’ own Patrick Badolato here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/empowered-we-others-payout-thats-just-me-patrick-badolato/