Adam and Rebekah Neumann are feeling the pressures of their affluent lifestyle and cruel, self-serving decisions in episode 6 of ‘WeCrashed.’ While Adam is being investigated by WeWork investor Benchmark Capital’s tough partner Cameron Lautner, Rebekah is working on a side project to start a company-wide education program.
With the prospect of losing his job as CEO looming, Adam turns to his billionaire facilitator, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son (affectionately known as Masa), with an audacious proposition. The Hulu series finally lives up to its name in this chapter. The Neumanns are staring down the barrel of a potential calamity as their questionable spending (and earning) habits begin to surface. Let’s take a deeper look at episode 6 of ‘WeCrashed’ and figure out what’s going on. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Recap of WeCrashed Episode 6
The episode begins with Adam and Rebekah on vacation in California, with the former missing a board meeting while the latter works on a huge list of possible firms to launch under the “We” brand. Adam is a big fan of the concept, but his company’s board of directors isn’t so sure. The true shock comes when Cameron Lautner sets up shop in Adam’s WeWork headquarters and starts poring over the company’s financial records from the previous ten years. When the CEO informs Adam of the total expenditures, which include investments in a wave pool firm and a coffee creamer company, he simply states that the board approved all of the transactions.
Despite Adam’s confidence at the Cameron meeting, he begins to worry about the level of scrutiny WeWork’s finances would face as the business prepares to go public. In a last-ditch effort to keep control of his company and avoid having to answer to anybody else, he contacts Masa and requests that the SoftBank CEO buy out all of WeWork’s other stockholders.
Project Fortitude is the name of the scheme, and it involves a back-and-forth negotiation between Adam and Masa, with both parties competing for ownership of WeWork as part of the deal. Masa has second thoughts about going through with the deal after Adam arrives atrociously late for a meeting with a key SoftBank investor named Al Mubarak.
Why Does Masa Back Out of the Deal in WeCrashed Episode 6?
Meanwhile, Rebekah works on the construction of WeGrow, a school based on her learning principles. Adam becomes increasingly frustrated as she pours money into the enterprise, partly due to the pressure he is under from Cameron and Bruce from Benchmark Capital. Watching Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO and co-founder, lose his job on the news brings things home for Adam, especially since Benchmark Capital owns a stake in the company.
Finally, Masa notifies Adam that he is unable to complete the transaction, and the WeWork CEO’s world comes crashing down. Adam breaks down on the way home from a party while seated next to his wife, after a bitter confrontation with Rebekah over WeGrow and her other unsuccessful enterprises. When Rebekah notices Adam crying, she chooses not to console him and instead stares out the car window.
As a result, the last minutes of episode 6 reveal the first signs of the company’s ominous “fall,” with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son refusing to buy out the rest of WeWork’s investors. As a result, Adam is now at the mercy of Benchmark Capital and the company’s other investors (and board members), who are becoming tired of his erratic spending habits. Furthermore, Masa’s withdrawal from the agreement implies that the WeWork board of directors may proceed with bringing the firm public, exposing Adam’s financial actions over the last ten years to public scrutiny.
Why does Masa finally back out of the agreement after encouraging Adam to be “crazy”? While there is no single reason for this, it is evident that SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son sees several red flags in Adam’s behavior. Apart from the questionable spending that Masa’s advisors have brought to his attention, Adam’s constant talks under Project Fortitude to keep control of WeWork and prevent Masa from investing in any other real estate company have turned him off. The final straw comes when Adam is late for a meeting with Al Mubarak, a key SoftBank investor who, as a result, refuses to support Masa’s request to invest more money in WeWork.
Will WeWork’s CEO, Adam Neumann, be fired?
At the conclusion of episode 6, Adam is still the CEO of WeWork, but only by a hair. Adam’s breakdown in the car displays a side of him we haven’t seen before, and it demonstrates how worried he is, and rightly so! Adam is at the mercy of his existing company board members, who support the company going public, due to Masa’s refusal to buy out WeWork’s other investors. Of course, going public means Adam’s egregious spending habits over the last ten years will be scrutinized.
While some of the expenditures and wild office parties appear to be a problem, Cameron Lautner discloses even more unsettling details to the board when he informs them that Adam has been leasing properties that he owns back to WeWork, indicating a blatant conflict of interest. Despite Adam’s subsequent outburst and request for an impromptu vote of confidence narrowly favoring the WeWork CEO, his position appears to be in risk, especially now that Masa has rejected the offer to buy out WeWork’s other investors.
