WeWork (Crisis)

WeWork's 2019 failed IPO at $47 billion valuation followed by 2023 bankruptcy demonstrates how real estate arbitrage dressed as tech can collapse spectacularly. Adam Neumann's company leased long, subleased short, and called it a tech platform. When the IPO S-1 revealed self-dealing and losses, valuation crashed 80%. Like an organism that displays false size signals, WeWork's tech costume hid fundamental real estate economics.