The Neumanns’ fortunes and the fortunes of the titular firm, WeWork, are once again in the black in the fifth episode of “WeCrashed.” Adam’s financial situation has worsened since episode 4, and the influx of billions of dollars from SoftBank and Masayoshi Son has prompted him to embark on another reckless growth spree, resulting in mixed emotions from his colleagues at Benchmark Capital.
Rebekah, on the other hand, is attempting to carve out a place for herself in her husband’s rapidly expanding company, leaving a trail of victims in her wake. The awful excesses of the central couple, as well as their fears, are on full show in this film. So let’s try to make sense of all that happens in episode 5 of ‘WeCrashed,’ which has a terrible aftertaste. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
WeCrashed Episode 5: Spoilers, Recap, and Ending, Explored
The episode opens with Adam striding into a branch of JPMorgan Chase with his trademark swagger and asking the bewildered bank employee for a $50 million line of credit, which he is denied. The bank staff initially believes it is a joke until he conducts an internet search for Adam. Within minutes of walking out with a $100 million line of credit, the WeWork CEO began dipping into the fund without hesitation. After purchasing a home and a beautiful company plane, Adam sets about putting the $4.4 billion in funding from SoftBank to use to quickly expand the company’s operations. WeWork has quickly expanded to 20 new facilities and now has a presence in 13 cities across six countries, according to the company.
When Adam returns to the WeWork headquarters, he finds himself surrounded by the heads of other shared workspace firms who are concerned about his well-being. He shrugs them off and redirects his attention to celebrating his participation on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Rebekah finds herself on the sidelines during the ceremony, while her husband basks in the spotlight of all the attention. She confides in Elishia, who is making waves at the corporation as the company’s new Chief Brand Officer and is bitter and feeling left out as a result.
Meanwhile, Adam and Miguel pay a visit to Masayoshi Son in Japan after the latter expresses displeasure with WeWork’s recent growth spike in the United States. As a result of this advise, Adam’s investors Bruce Dunlevie and Cameron Lautner, who own Benchmark Capital, become even more frightened.
WeCrashed Episode 5 Ending: Does Adam Really Want to Make WeWork a $33 Trillion Company?
Adam is completely unaware of his wife’s resentment, even when Rebekah begins firing WeWork staff on the spur of the moment. She becomes enraged when she discovers that Elishia will be prominently featured in a Vanity Fair article on WeWork, which is scheduled to be published soon. Rebekah grabs Elishia’s position as Chief Brand Officer in order to gain more attention for herself, making the latter unhappy and upset in the process.
During this time, Miguel and Adam are having a tense journey back from Japan, and Adam comes to the conclusion that he needs to take over the entirety of the shared workspace business in the United States. With WeWork holding a 40 percent market share, Adam embarks on an aggressive acquisition spree, destroying competitors such as Jamie Hodari’s company, Industrious, in the process. Following that, the episode concludes with a sparsely attended, heavily alcoholic party at the WeWork headquarters to celebrate Rebekah’s new Chief Branding Officer role.
When Adam leaves the office, the beer tap remains open, allowing the beer to flow even as Adam walks away. This is the concluding scene of episode 5. The image serves as an excellent illustration for how the corporation is losing money despite having relatively full coffers and great earnings. Adam, on the other hand, appears to have a new objective, one that is (incorrectly) computed by Miguel while on his trip to Japan to meet Masayoshi Son in person (affectionately called Masa). They estimate that Masa is looking for a 7500-fold return on his $4.4 billion investment, which would result in a staggering $33 trillion valuation for WeWork if it were to go public.
As a result, Masa never mentions a specific figure, thereby cutting off the debate of finances before it has really gotten started. As a substitute, he presents the WeWork co-founders to a robot created by one of the other firms in which he has invested, encouraging Adam to be even more “wild.” Masa’s sarcastic advise, along with the astronomical figure offered by Miguel, appears to be just the kind of gasoline Adam needs to push forward with his obscenely ambitious plans to the extreme.
As a result, although though Masa never mentions the $33 trillion amount, it appears like Adam has opted to utilise it as a motivator to drive his workers. The fact that he is attempting to “transform the world” with his firm is unsurprising; the more atrociously high the predicted valuation of WeWork becomes, the greater the freedom he will have to be “crazy.” As things stand right now, it appears that Adam is publicising the figure to his employees in order to get them on board with his aggressive expansion ambitions, but he has not specifically stated that $33 trillion is his price target.
Is Elishia Kennedy no longer employed at WeWork?
Elishia eventually gets a glimpse of Rebekah’s vengeful side when the latter abruptly takes over her position as Chief Branding Officer without giving her any notice. Rebekah’s actions are made worse by the fact that she is primarily motivated by the desire to be featured more prominently in an impending Vanity Fair story. This is a devastating betrayal for Elishia, who had regarded Rebekah as a friend up until this point. Furthermore, because Rebekah is the CEO’s wife, Elishia will be unable to reclaim the position that Adam originally assigned to her if she wishes to do so.
The episode comes to a close without revealing what Elishia’s next move would be. Given that she has only recently left her prior employer, it is improbable that she will return. It appears, however, that she will not be able to stay. In response, Rebekah makes a half-hearted offer of another position (or title), which she dismisses. As a result, it appears that Elishia will most certainly quit from WeWork following her brief employment there.