What a long, strange trip it’s been. Just over two years after its first attempt to IPO shattered into a million documentaries, WeWork went public yesterday via SPAC. This deal valued the company at $9 billion; WeWork was worth $47 billion in 2019.

WeWork, but make it mini

These days, WeWork’s aspiration is less “elevate the world’s consciousness,” as its mission stated in 2019, and more “use us so your employees don’t go crazy working from home.” The shared-office company feels like it’s well positioned to offer space to companies with globe-spanning workforces operating on a more flexible schedule.

• Another bullish trend for WeWork: Entrepreneurship is booming. Applications for new businesses in 2020 grew 24% year over year to the most on record. As Morning Brew can attest, growing startups are excellent potential clients for WeWork offices.

The company is still digging out of a deep financial hole. WeWork lost more than $6 billion in the 18 months leading up to this summer as the pandemic throttled office work. And occupancy rates were just 55% as of June 1. To put the company in a position to be profitable next year, CEO Sandeep Mathrani has been on a cost-cutting spree, axing thousands of jobs and renegotiating leases.

And what about Adam Neumann?

He’s not sorry for party rocking. The WeWork cofounder and former CEO, whose marketing savvy was matched only by his proclivity for hosting ragers, resigned in disgrace in 2019 after financial documents showed seriously sketchy corporate governance practices at the company, among many other red flags.

But he's doing just fine. Neumann still has 11% voting power at WeWork, and after his share sales, his stock in the new company is worth $722 million, according to Bloomberg. In fact, Neumann’s name appears in the SPAC filing 197 times.

So it wasn’t surprising to see Neumann partying with cofounder Miguel McKelvey and other early WeWork employees in Manhattan yesterday. He said he had absorbed “hard lessons” from the fiasco, but he’s “excited for the future.”—NF

Well, well, well, looks like senior officials at the Federal Reserve will have to dump all their AMC shares. Facing backlash over members’ stock trading during the pandemic, the Fed released a new set of rules re: officials’ investing habits yesterday that are stricter than a high school band trip’s hotel policy.

• The 12 reserve bank presidents and seven governors on the central bank’s board will be banned from owning individual stocks and bonds. They will only be allowed to invest in securities like mutual funds.
• If Fed officials want to trade, they’ll need to give a 45-day notice before buying or selling and must hold onto their purchase for at least one year.

Quick backstory: Documents released last month showed some regional Fed presidents held thousands of dollars in individual stocks like Pfizer and Chevron, two presidents even resigned shortly after the news broke. Their trading activity was all above board, but it’s not a great look since these folks play a huge role in shaping the US economy.

Big picture: It’s likely not a coincidence that the crackdown comes at the same time that Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who ordered the initial ethics investigation, waits for Biden’s invite to serve a second term, especially since Powell has faced criticism from some Democratic lawmakers.—MM

Ah, the classic Econ 101 concepts: the invisible hand, the tragedy of the commons, the one about how if you stare into an orb you’ll receive free cryptocurrency.

Worldcoin, a project cofounded by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, is literally offering cryptocurrency (its own) in exchange for staring into a chrome orb that scans your irises. Yesterday it announced it’s raised $25 million, bringing its value to $1 billion. The concept is kind of a crypto-attempt at universal basic income, and the eye-scanning orbs are—according to Worldcoin—a way to ensure that nobody gets multiple payouts.

The use of biometric data has, of course, raised lots of privacy concerns. Critics don’t buy into Worldcoin’s security claims, and others say the concept seems to require central control over the cryptocurrency—which doesn’t exactly jibe with blockchain decentralization principles. Worldcoin says it will never sell personal data (though it is currently storing it in order to, according to the company, improve fraud-detection algorithms).

Not everyone is so skeptical, however. Worldcoin says 130,000 people have already gazed into the orb. The company plans to ramp up orb production from 30 to 4,000 per month beginning in November.—MK

Stat: Austin Li, known as China’s “King of Lipstick,” sold $1.65 billion worth of goods during a 12 hour, 26 minute livestream yesterday on the Taobao Live platform, according to tech analyst Rui Ma. It was part of a promotion for Alibaba’s upcoming Singles’ Day, the largest shopping event in the world.

Quote: “It’s a right load of codswallop.”

A spokesperson for the Maine CDC dismissed an unsubstantiated claim made by Zha Liyou, the Chinese consul general in Kolkata, India, who—along with hundreds of other Twitter accounts—alleged that the Covid-19 pandemic originated from thawed Maine lobsters imported to China from the US.

Read: The metaphysics of the hangover. (The Hedgehog Review)

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to taking the rocket to first place in Mario Kart.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

Thanks for submitting your work horror stories. We can’t sleep at night.

Still, we bravely compiled the wackiest work stories from Brew readers into a list for you to read around the campfire. Check them out here—and prepare to cringe.

Everybody does crypto differently. Your approach is unique to you—there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why Bitstamp offers more ways to invest than any other exchange—along with the safety and security to back it. Do your crypto thing—however you do it—on Bitstamp.*

Got the night sweats? It’s probably because your mattress absorbs body heat. Eight Sleep’s Pod Pro Cover fits over your existing mattress and uses dynamic heating and cooling tech to foster optimal snoozing instead. Save $150 off yours here.*

Swag up: Morning Brew is officially dropping merch Oct. 25. Sign up for our email list to be the first to shop our products. If you join the list before 10/24 at midnight, you’ll get 10% off your first purchase and be entered to win a $50 gift card for Morning Brew swag. US entries only. Official rules here.

The ocean deep: Watch this video for an astonishing look at just how deep the seas are.

The kids are all right: Watch how students steal each other’s notes using iOS 15.

^{*This is sponsored advertising content}

Today’s puzzle comes to us from The Guardian, and it should tide you over if you have a slow day at work today.

Place the numbers from 1 to 49 on the grid below such that all consecutive numbers are either horizontal or vertical neighbors. In other words, 1 is horizontally or vertically adjacent to 2, which is horizontally or vertically adjacent to 3, and so on up to 49.

The shaded squares are the prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43 and 47

Nora and Scott from Morning Brew’s Business Casual sat down with journalist Stacey Vanek Smith, co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money, to discuss her new book, Machiavelli for Women, which takes a fun and empowering approach to shattering the glass ceiling.

She applies Machiavelli’s The Prince—you know, the brutish, 16th century political instruction guide for Italian princes to gain and keep power—to the status of 21st century women in the workforce. Turns out, Machiavelli has some pretty solid ideas about overcoming the obstacles that stand in the way of leadership positions. Listen to the full episode to learn some actionable tips to win at the workplace.

There are four possible solutions—here's one.