Billion Dollar Loser details the career of WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann and how he managed to revolutionize office space for freelancers worldwide.
Having emerged from the 2008 financial crisis, Neumann decided to maximize his profits by taking out longer term leases in the reduced rent office spaces, and then sub-renting them out to freelance businesses. However, instead of purely focussing on becoming yet another office leasing company, Neumann aimed to build a sense of community.
He recruited his co-founder, Miguel McKelvey, to design the structure of the business and deploy a plan to allow access for young people in the working environment.
The book also details the connections Neumann made with the Kushner family. Wiedeman states, “Hyperbole, autocratic leadership and a disconnect from reality were suddenly assets on the path to power,” with regards to their relationship.
However, eventually, the business began to fail as there were too many expenses to offload and it also meant more and more people were sharing one office space, which was not sustainable. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it was no longer possible to utilize these office spaces, and as such, the company began to fall.
