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Highlights: > After the group landed in Israel and left the plane, the flight crew found a sizable chunk of the drug stuffed in a cereal box for the return fli
by jonknee 7y ago
Highlights:
> After the group landed in Israel and left the plane, the flight crew found a sizable chunk of the drug stuffed in a cereal box for the return flight, according to people familiar with the incident. The jet’s owner, upset and fearing repercussions of trans-border marijuana transport, recalled the plane, leaving Mr. Neumann to find his own way back to New York, these people said.
> Many former employees said they didn’t always know how seriously to take some of Mr. Neumann’s pronouncements. Early on, he would throw out seemingly random ideas, like adding a pool in the basement of the company’s headquarters or starting an airline.
> He told at least one person directly that his ambitions included becoming Israel’s prime minister. More recently, he said that if he ran for anything, it would be president of the world, according to another person who spoke with him.
> One day, he proposed, the company could “solve the problem of children without parents,” and from there go onto other causes such as eradicating world hunger.
> In a 2015 investment round, Mr. Neumann sold tens of millions of dollars of shares. Soon after, the company launched a buyback program offering to purchase employees’ shares too. But the company gave employees a different arrangement, giving them a payout per share worth substantially less than what Mr. Neumann was paid
> A few weeks after Mr. Neumann fired 7% of the staff in 2016, he somberly addressed the issue at an evening all-hands meeting at headquarters, telling attendees the move was tough but necessary to cut costs, and the company would be better because of it. Then employees carrying trays of plastic shot glasses filled with tequila came into the room, followed by toasts and drinks.
> Both Neumanns could be impulsive at times, former executives say. Ms. Neumann has ordered multiple employees fired after meeting them for just minutes, telling staff she didn’t like their energy.
- save_ferris 7y agoThis all reads like an episode of Silicon Valley. Unbelievable.
- hinkley 7y agoPeople want adventure, and nobody has bigger adventures than people who are manic. I think there are some pretty clear signs of manic-depressive episodes in Russ Hanneman's story arc.
- oh_sigh 7y agoToo bad TJ Miller went insane - next season would surely be We heavy. Now there probably won't even be another season - and I'm okay with that considering the last one.
- leesec 7y agoYou left out: >He previously has instructed staff to fire 20% of employees a year, bemoaning the number of “B” players hired amid rapid growth. Managers were unable to hit the target even when they included attrition.
- cududa 7y agoAlso that when the tequila was served after the people got fired, Run DMC popped out and started singing It’s Tricky
- cpeterso 7y agoI downvoted you for making a non sequitur joke... but then I actually read the article! (I've removed my downvote.)
- mrosett 7y agoTruth that you wouldn't believe if someone made it up...
- jonknee 7y agoThat was in the second to last quote I had, but really the whole thing was quotable, what a mess of a company.
- randycupertino 7y agoThis company is my cash cow, Let's have some shots and hash now We Work's my pitch, make me so rich I'm Sketchy is the title, here we go I'm Sketchy to buy a place, split up the space Rent it out to tech Co.s DJs, shots, parties w/ bros I'm Sketchy, I'm Sketchy (Sketchy) Sketchy (Sketchy) It's Sketchy to trademark "We" Sell it back to my company That's $6 mill in my bank account I'm sketchy sketchy Sketchy Sketchy I met this little girlie, her cuz Gwyneth was kinda Goopy Put her on my board The VCs forced her out, We had to transfer my voting shares real early These VCs are really sleazy, All they just say is please me with solid financials Or spend some time to actually make some profit, I said "It's not that easy"
- Ididntdothis 7y agoSeems he and his wife would be excellent dictators. Keeping people on their toes by doing random stuff is one main skill in dictatorship.
- randycupertino 7y ago^ sounds like Trump
- dbuder 7y agoI bet he likes Stalin's style.
- cde-v 7y agoWe as a society have failed and I don't think we can recover. Every single one of our systems not only enables those with sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies, but literally promotes them.
- onemoresoop 7y agoThis is deep problem and extremely hard to fix.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]