在WeWork内部，一对夫妇掌握着控制权

在WeWork内部，一对夫妇掌握着控制权

In the early days of WeWork, the two people most associated with the company were cofounders Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey. As they grew the brand, the pair was interviewed and photographed, together and separately, by numerous publications.

在WeWork的早期，与该公司关系最密切的两个人是联合创始人亚当•诺伊曼和米格尔•麦凯维。随着品牌的发展，这对搭档合体且分别接受了众多出版物的采访和拍照。

But when WeWork's parent company filed paperwork on Wednesday to go public, the nine-year old startup appeared to be primarily a Neumann production.

但当WeWork的母公司周三提交文件准备上市时，这家成立9年的初创公司似乎主要是诺伊曼的成绩。

McKelvey, the company's chief culture officer, was mentioned only six times in the IPO prospectus. Neumann, the CEO, was mentioned well over 100 times. Neumann's wife, Rebekah, was mentioned 20 times.

该公司首席文化官麦凯维在IPO招股说明书中只被提及了六次。首席执行官诺伊曼被提及超过100次。诺伊曼的妻子丽贝卡被提到了20次。

In addition to being a cash-burning enterprise facing a host of question marks around its business, The We Company is uniquely set up to be controlled by the Neumanns — a move that's raising some eyebrows among governance experts.

作为一家烧钱的企业，WeWork公司除了在业务上面临一系列问号外，还被诺伊曼控制，这一独特的操作让一些管理专家感到惊讶。

In addition to her role as chief brand and impact officer, Rebekah Neumann is credited as a cofounder in the IPO prospectus. (She was previously called a founding partner.) The filing notes that she has been "a strategic thought partner to Adam since our founding."

除了担任首席品牌和影响力官外，瑞贝卡•诺伊曼还在IPO招股说明书中被列为联合创始人。(她之前被称为创始合伙人。)文件指出，她“自我们成立以来一直是亚当的战略思想伙伴”。

Together, the Neumann's wield considerable control over WeWork, a structure that will continue after the company goes public.

合在一起，诺依曼对WeWork拥有相当大的控制权，这种结构将在公司上市后继续存在。

For example, The We Company has chosen to create multiple classes of stock, giving Adam Neumann voting control over the company's decisions. But in the event that Adam Neumann is "permanently disabled or deceased" in the 10 years following the IPO, Rebekah will form a committee with one or two board members to select a new person for the role. (The board consists of Neumann and six other non-employee directors who are all men.) If Rebekah is unable to serve in this capacity, the trustee acting on behalf the Neumann's estate will serve in her capacity.

例如，WeWork公司选择创建多个股票类别，让亚当•诺伊曼对公司的决策拥有投票权。但如果亚当•诺伊曼在IPO后的10年内“永久残疾或去世”，丽贝卡将成立一个由一到两名董事会成员组成的委员会，挑选一位新董事。(董事会由诺伊曼和其他六名男性非雇员董事组成。)如果丽贝卡不能以这种身份任职，代表诺伊曼遗产的受托人将以她的身份任职。

But giving succession plans to a spouse who has no role on the board, albeit with one or two board members, is unusual.

但将接班计划交给一位在董事会中没有任何职位的配偶，尽管只有一到两名董事会成员，这是不寻常的。

Traditional governance practices are designed to protect investors. "You don't want personal relationships to interfere with professional relationships," he said. "It's always considered a bad idea."

传统的治理实践旨在保护投资者。他说:“你不想让私人关系干扰到职业关系。”“这一直被认为是一个坏主意。”

The amount of control the Neumanns have over their soon-to-be public company is rare, although they're not the first couple in tech who've done business together. Julia and Kevin Hartz cofounded ticketing platform Eventbrite, which went public in 2018; Flickr, the photo-sharing platform that sold to Yahoo, was started by then-couple Stewart Butterfield, who went on to found Slack, and Caterina Fake; and Medallia, a customer feedback company that went public in July, was started by married couple Borge Hald and Amy Pressman.

诺伊曼夫妇对即将上市的公司拥有的控制权是罕见的，尽管他们并不是科技行业第一对合作过的夫妇。朱莉娅和凯文·哈茨共同创办了票务平台Eventbrite，于2018年上市;卖给雅虎的照片共享平台Flickr是由当时的斯图尔特•巴特菲尔德和卡特琳娜•费克夫妇创办的。Medallia是一家客户反馈公司，于今年7月上市，由已婚夫妇博尔格•哈尔德和艾米•普雷斯曼创办。