Well, the answer is that since the market has been flush with cash, these companies kept raising more and more money in their rounds. The guys in the early roun

Well, the answer is that since the market has been flush with cash, these companies kept raising more and more money in their rounds. The guys in the early rounds will make their money, but the later rounds ( Softbank) will lose it. VC is a massive bet, Softbank started a new vision fund worth 100B. They know exactly what they are doing. But, with WeWork, they probably thought they could keep the charade long enough to go IPO and get unsuspecting investors in the IPO. When a company is hot, the founders have massive leverage, look at Adam Neumann , employing his family and friends at all key positions.