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Subscription failed Subscribe for free Thank you for subscribing! 8 hours ago - Economy & Business WeWork book: The $10 trillion mirage Mike Allen, author of AM Graphic from "The Cult of We," by kind permission of the authors, Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell This single slide -- marked up in the yellow scrawl of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son -- captures this era's euphoria over the hyper-scaling of tech startups, combusting with extremely low interest rates: The big picture: Cash gushers chase indefensible valuations on delusional growth prospects and paths to profitability, with little regard for the reality of the underlying business and market structure. The slide was uncovered by Wall Street Journal reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell as they wrote the delicious new book "The Cult of We," chronicling the wiles and humiliation of Adam Neumann, WeWork's day-drinking co-founder, former CEO, and chief snake-oil salesman. "As he pondered a bigger investment in WeWork," the authors write, "Son pushed WeWork's already ambitious financial projections into territory unprecedented in business history. During a meeting with Neumann, he scribbled out a vision for a company worth $10 trillion." Graphic from "The Cult of We," by kind permission of the authors, Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell SoftBank made Goldman Sachs look downright restrained in a pitch deck, also obtained by the authors, to take WeWork public. * Goldman bankers included the bar chart shown above ("Your Path to $1 Trillion"), which "played to both Neumann's hunger for a giant valuation and his affinity for simple visuals." On the book's cover, business journalist Charles Duhigg calls it a portrait "of how grifters came to be called visionaries." * The wild-haired Neumann -- a yeller who combined a televangelist's frenzy with tequila and weed, plus quirks that included strolling Manhattan barefoot -- eventually drove his baby off a financial cliff: The rise and fall of WeWork was enabled by a collision of forces: a man characterized by charisma, unbridled optimism, and astute salesmanship met an entire financial system primed to fall under his spell. "Had a frothy venture capital sector not been so obsessed with the search for eccentric and visionary founders," the authors continue, "WeWork might still occupy only a smattering of buildings in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan." Cover: Crown The authors told me that COVID shutdown had sunk their reporting travel plans. But it turned out to be easier to talk to key players in the drama when they were stuck at home, rather than trying to meet them and gain their trust in a coffee shop. Maureen Farrell, who's on The Journal's Deals team, told me it's scary how much capital was destroyed during the We Work saga: * "In this era of so much money chasing the next great idea, it makes people willing to not have the checks and balances." Eliot Brown, who covered venture capital and now writes about the SPAC frenzy, said Neumann got "smart people to do dumb things": * "Theranos was a charismatic entrepreneur making up numbers to trick investors. This was a charismatic entrepreneur using real numbers -- but getting them to delude themselves." Read a free excerpt, "Chapter 1: The Hustler." {{{cta.header}}} Enter your email address[ ] Subscribe Not a valid email format. Not a valid email format. Server error. 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Please try a different email. {{{cta.successMessage}}} {{{cta.header}}} Enter your email address[ ] Subscribe Not a valid email format. Not a valid email format. Server error. Please try a different email. {{{cta.successMessage}}} Go deeper Axios 5 hours ago - Sports Axios AM Deep Dive: Lessons for the next Olympics Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Welcome to our Axios AM Deep Dive wrapping up theTokyo Olympics detailing what we learned, and looking ahead to next year's Winter Gamesthe impact of the COVID pandemic, led by Ina Fried, who's on the ground in Tokyo, and Kendall Baker, who's been covering the Games every day in his Axios Sports newsletter. Deep Dive (10 min. read) Oriana Gonzalez 6 hours ago - Politics & Policy Senate clears key hurdle on infrastructure bill Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Biden on Saturday gave a final push for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package as the Senate reconvened to advance the measure. Driving the news: The Senate on Saturday broke the filibuster, clearing the 60-vote threshold to advance the plan for final passage, after which it will head to the House. It is not clear when the final Senate vote will take place. Go deeper (<1 min. read) Oriana Gonzalez 7 hours ago - Sports Swimmer Simone Manuel: Stop interviews after "disappointing" performances Simone Manuel. Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel suggested this week that journalists should stop the practice of interviewing athletes after "disappointing" performances. The big picture: Athletes have stepped up to advocate for their own mental health at this year's Games and beyond. Go deeper (1 min. read) Axios gets you smarter, faster with news & information that matters. 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