Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Billionaire Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison calls embattled WeWork 'almost worthless'

Billionaire Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison calls embattled WeWork 'almost worthless'

Oracle's billionaire cofounder and CTO, Larry Ellison, said WeWork is "almost worthless" in a scathing indictment of the company's business model. Ellison offered a scathing take on WeWork's business model: "WeWork rents a building from me, and breaks it up, and then rents it. They say, 'We're a technology company, and we want a tech multiple.' It's bizarre."

The billionaire Oracle cofounder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison reportedly called WeWork "almost worthless" in a scathing indictment of the embattled office-coworking company.

He made the statement during a meeting with entrepreneurs on Wednesday at his home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco attended by Barron's.

"WeWork rents a building from me, and breaks it up, and then rents it," Ellison said, according to Barron's. "They say, 'We're a technology company, and we want a tech multiple.' It's bizarre."

 Ellison's statements came amid weeks of news stories battering WeWork as the company attempts to go public.

 The company was privately valued at $47 billion when it filed an S-1 in mid-August for an initial public offering. One month later, WeWork's parent company was said to have been mulling going public at a valuation of $10 billion to $12 billion.

It has paused its IPO - it was originally supposed to go public this month but is now said to be aiming for the end of the year.

The story of what happened is complex and ongoing, but one particular thread stands out from the past month of WeWork news: CEO Adam Neumann's repeated self-dealing while leading the company.

 The company's S-1 revealed that Neumann owned several properties that WeWork leased from him and that he sold the rights to the word "We" to WeWork for nearly $6 million. He has since given back the money for the naming rights and committed to giving his profits from the related real-estate deals back to the company.

WeWork and Neumann have received plenty of criticism in the past month, including from Scott Galloway, the New York University Stern School of Business professor, bestselling author, and tech-industry pundit, who deemed the company "WeWTF" after it filed its S-1.

 Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo piled on this week as well.

 "This is not the way everybody behaves," Costolo told The Wall Street Journal in a profile of Neumann. "The degree of self-dealing in the S-1 is so egregious, and it comes at a time when you've got regulators and politicians and folks across the country looking out at Silicon Valley and wondering if there's the appropriate level of self-awareness."

A WeWork representative declined to respond to Ellison's criticisms.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×