The CEO of WeWork reportedly said he wants to be 'president of the world'


WeWork CEO Adam Neumann is a simple man. All he wants out of life is to become a trillionaire president of the world who also lives forever. Nothing major.
That's according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal stuffed with bizarre details about the WeWork founder, including that after having previously expressed interest in becoming Israel's prime minister, he reportedly said in a recent conversation that "if he ran for anything, it would be president of the world."
Neumann, who founded the workspace company in 2010, also evidently "hopes to live forever," having invested in a life-extension startup company to make that dream a reality, and he has told numerous people he's aiming to be the world's first trillionaire. He's got quite a long way to go, as Forbes estimates his net worth is currently $2.2 billion. WeWork in 2018 lost $1.6 billion.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Other odd anecdotes in the piece include that Neumann reportedly once left employees "stunned and confused" when he brought out trays of tequila shots and had Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels perform "It's Tricky" immediately after firing 7 percent of the staff, that he once had a private jet recalled by its owner after leaving a cereal box filled with marijuana on it, and that his wife has "ordered multiple employees fired after meeting them for just minutes, telling staff she didn't like their energy."
Neumann didn't comment for the article, but expect to hear plenty more from him as his campaign for world president is presumably launched any day now — or, if his life-extension efforts are successful, anytime within the next several hundred years. Read the full, strange look into Neumann's world at The Wall Street Journal.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Is grad school worth it?
the explainer Determine whether the potential for better employment and higher earnings outweighs the upfront cost of school
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
'E-bikes have made our lives more complicated'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures