The story of Adam Neumann and the rise and fall of WeWork reads more like a parable than a business story.

A tale of monstrous ego, vaulting ambition and a credulous public.

Adam Neumann was the tall, handsome, barefoot, tequila-shooting, weed-smoking Svengali who booked rap stars for the office party, had aspirations to live forever, become the world’s first trillionaire and expand his company to Mars.

That seems a million miles from humbling reality, as the company that became the largest tenant of office space in New York and London files for bankruptcy protection from the very landlords who once adored it.

It started with a solid, proven idea pitch-perfectly retuned for its time.

A space to work for those who wanted more than a coffee bar but less than an office was not a new idea. Regus (now IWG) was founded in the late 1980s.

But when WeWork was founded in 2010 the conditions were perfect.

Commercial premises had emptied out as the financial crisis saw even some of the biggest businesses fold. Landlords were desperate.

There was an army of laid-off workers trying to find a way to rebuild their careers and thanks to mobile technology could work anywhere.

Rock-bottom interest rates meant you could borrow to fund expansion cheaply.

And investors with FOMO – fear of missing out – were prepared to pay almost anything in case they missed the next Amazon, Google or Facebook.

Throw some fun into the mix – by serving free beer and playing music for a younger crowd embracing new and blurred lines between work and personal life – and you had the formula for a company that, to its fans, felt more like a movement than a business.

At the heart of it all