THE gig economy is capitalism at its most brutal. Everybody wants to create the next “unicorn” – disrupting conventional businesses on a global scale like Airbnb and Netflix.
However, potential champions often end up like WeWork, whose botched initial public offering (IPO) in August saw its putative valuation plummet 75% from US$40bil to US$10bil and its long-haired, pot-smoking founder, Adam Neumann leave in disgrace. According to recent media reports, the perennially money-losing concern could now be facing a cash-crunch.