An introduction to WeCast.
‘Tis the season of swindler TV: Netflix’s Inventing Anna set the ball rolling, which was followed by Tinder Swindler, and then Hulu’s The Dropout and Showtime’s Super Pumped arrived. Soon joining this list of miniseries would be Apple TV+’s WeCrashed.
After failing to sell women’s shoes with collapsible heels and baby clothes with kneepads, 6’5″ Israeli businessman Adam Neumann founded what was essentially a glorified real-estate company masquerading as a tech company.
WeWork’s business model was based on leasing an office space, making it chipper and dapper, and subleasing sections of that to startups/freelancers temporarily.
Apple TV+ / Via youtube.com
But that was not the only thing that WeWork brought to the table (or office). It intended to play the role of a “physical social network” by providing an informal atmosphere where different professionals, be they startup founders or freelancers, could socialize with each other, leading to mutual benefits. It achieved this partly by bathing its users in free beer.
“We gave 90,000 glasses of beer last month,” Neumann boasted in an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2015, saying that it “is a number we’re proud of.”
Apple TV+ / Via youtube.com
Figures that made him prouder included WeWork’s spread from Warsaw to Wuhan and a valuation of $10 billion in 2015 that later climbed to $47 billion at the time of its scheduled IPO that never came to fruition. But all of this came crashing down once the rainbow of profits, and environment protection, conjured by Neumann’s charisma and smooth talk, faded away.
Spooked by the company’s business practices, spectacular losses, and Neumann’s apparent unprofessional, irresponsible, and extravagant ways, WeWork’s main investor — Japanese giant SoftBank, which is the world’s largest tech investor — decided to pull the rug out from under his feet.
Apple TV+ / Via youtube.com
Adam Neumann’s co-passengers in this disgraceful journey were his wife — Rebekah Neumann, who too had her own quirks (like firing employees for negative energy) — and his American business partner Miguel McKelvey.
This series from Apple TV+ attempts to trace the whole rise and fall of WeWork while throwing in juicy nuggets that I don’t want to spoil.
Let’s take a look at the how the characters look in real life:
Here’s the real Adam Neumann:
Jean Baptiste Lacroix / Getty Images
And here’s Jared Leto as Adam Neumann:
Here’s the real Rebekah Neumann:
Lars Niki / Corbis via Getty Images
And here’s Anne Hathaway as Rebekah Neumann:
Here’s the real Miguel McKelvey:
Vcg / Visual China Group via Getty Images
And here’s Kyle Marvin as Miguel McKelvey:
Have you tuned into WeCrashed yet?
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/feynman12/wecrashed-cast-side-by-side