- WeWork’s CEO was paid nothing in 2018, the company said in its initial public offering filing on Wednesday.
- Adam Neumann is worth an estimated $4.1 billion after founding the company a decade ago.
- WeWork, the $47 billion co-working company, is going public. Here’s everything we know about what’s going on.
The revelation comes as The We Company, as 10-year-old WeWork is now known, filed for an initial public offering.
While the company’s chief financial and legal officers were paid $51,000 and $871,154 in salaries (and another $625,000 and 7,731 in equity compensation), respectively, Neumann received nothing.
Read more: WeWork is about to go public – Here’s how its CEO, Adam Neumann, spends his billions
Neumann, 40, likely isn’t feeling too much of a hit from the lack of salary though. He’s worth an estimated $4.1 billion now, a far cry from the shoe-box sized New York City apartment where he was living in the early 2000’s.
Neumann also owns a significant majority of the company's voting stock, including 100% of its Class C shares, on top of 2.3 million Class A shares and 112.5 million Class B shares. That means, like many other tech firms which have gone public recently, Neumann will maintain significant control, while other investors who buy stock in the IPO, will have very little say.
"Because Adam will control a majority of our outstanding voting power, we will be a "controlled company" under the corporate governance rules for -listed companies," the company's regulatory filing says, omitting a specific market like NYSE or Nasdaq as of now.
"Therefore, we may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance standards, such as the requirement that our board of directors have a compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors. For at least some period following completion of this offering, we intend to take advantage of these exemptions."
He's also critical to the company's operations, the filing warns.
"Adam Neumann … is critical to our operations," the company said. "Adam has been key to setting our vision, strategic direction and execution priorities. We have no employment agreement in place with Adam, and there can be no assurance that Adam will continue to work for us or serve our interests in any capacity. If Adam does not continue to serve as our Chief Executive Officer, it could have a material adverse effect on our business."
