This Week in Business: The Economics of Impeachment

The Fall of WeWork

Any other week, this would be the top business story: WeWork’s chief executive, Adam Neumann, stepped down after his disastrous attempt to take the company public erased some $30 billion of its estimated value. Known for his lavish homes, zealous leadership style and veganism (he once arbitrarily banned meat at the company), Mr. Neumann finally admitted he was the wrong person to lead the money-losing company. “Since the announcement of our I.P.O., too much of the focus has been placed on me,” he wrote to employees. To be fair, the focus has also been placed on his hoarding of voting shares and questionable ways he profited — like trademarking the word “we” and charging the company $5.9 million to use it.

Speaking of Embattled C.E.O.s

Kevin Burns, the chief executive of Juul Labs, abruptly left the vaping company. He was replaced by a top official at Altria, the tobacco industry giant that paid $12.8 billion for a 35 percent share in Juul last December — and may be regretting it now. Juul said it wouldn’t fight a proposed ban on most e-cigarettes in the United States and would suspend advertising of its products in the country. The number of lung illnesses linked to vaping, which is particularly popular with teens, climbed to 805.

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What’s Next? (Sept. 29-Oct. 5)

Still Striking

Almost 50,000 union workers at General Motors will start their third week of strikes this Monday, throwing a wrench in the company’s production in the United States. The union wants G.M. to provide better wages, reopen idled plants and pay new hires the same as veteran ones. But that doesn’t exactly square with G.M.’s big shift toward electric vehicles, which may require new facilities and skill sets. Still, an end to the dispute could be in sight, according to negotiators.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/business/this-week-in-business-the-economics-of-impeachment.html?emc=rss&partner=rss