Revealed Truth:

Work is the New God
We Co. is its temple
And Adam Neumann its prophet.

1. Work is the New God

[Workism] is the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work.

Workism Is Making Americans Miserable

A lot of people have essentially turned to work to find the very things that they used to seek from traditional religions; transcendence, meaning community, self-actualization, a totalizing purpose in life. And so I think that in many ways, we have essentially made our work our God.

2. We Co. is its temple

WeWork (The We Company, you know, see below) is its temple. The place where “we” go to do what we are expected to do: to work!

Last Wednesday, WE revealed its IPO prospectus, months after filing confidentially to go public. If you believe in the new creed, in a few weeks, you can buy a stake in the new Religion’s Temple.

I usually refuse to give advise, but in this case, I feel obliged. Beware! It is not only the numbers (Yes, We also lose a lot of money). It is a lot more, the new kind of “Enlightenment” that surrounds the company….

Our ­mission, is to elevate the world’s con­scious­ness.

3. Adam Neumann is its prophet

Please, do notice the name: Adam Neumann! As you would expect from a new creed, HE is what we would call in my country an “espabilao,” who has found some striking ways to profit from his company.

Early this year, WeWork unveiled its new corporate brand: We Co. It then sought to acquire the trademark to “we.” The name was owned by We Holdings LLC, which manages some of the founders’ stock and other assets. WeWork said it paid the founders’ company $5.9 million for “we” this year, based on a valuation determined by a third-party appraisal. WeWork legally changed the company name last month.

In 2016, Neumann borrowed $7 million from WeWork at a generous annual interest rate of 0.64%. Neumann paid it back early, in November 2017, with about $100,000 in interest. It was one of several times Neumann borrowed company money. “From time to time over the past several years, we made loans directly to Adam or his affiliated entities,” WeWork wrote in the filing.

Neumann took out a much bigger loan from WeWork a few months ago. The company lent him $362 million in April at 2.89% interest to help him exercise options to buy stock. This month, Neumann repaid the debt by surrendering the shares back to the company. …

WeWork also disclosed details on the widely scrutinized rental arrangements with Neumann. The company said Neumann owns four properties that count WeWork as a tenant. For one building, the company entered a lease within a year of Neumann acquiring his ownership stake. For the other three, it signed a lease on the same day the co-founder obtained his stakes.

Matt Levine’s Money Stuff Newsletter

Rett Wallace, Triton Research CEO, warns WeWork IPO is a ‘Masterpiece of Obfuscation’. The Verge says WeWork is a Soap Opera… and I say IT smells like rotten fish. Like Surströmming, only for connoisseurs…

Amen!

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Feautured Image: Surströmming, Wikimedia Commons