Some people say that McDonald's Corp is not a restaurant, but a real estate company. They get other people to own and run the restaurants, but they buy and lease the land to them at a profit.
So how is this different than WeWork's CEO owning the building and leasing it to WeWork?
In that case, McDonald's still owns the real estate, not Ray Kroc. Here the interests of the corporation and Ray Kroc (as shareholder of McDonald's) are aligned - McDonald's has no incentive to overpay for the real estate, because that would reduce its profits.
Did Ray Kroc personally buy real estate and then lease it to McDonalds to sublease it to franchisees? Was he on both sides of the transactions, leasor as owner of the property and leasee as CEO of the company signing the first lease?
So how is this different than WeWork's CEO owning the building and leasing it to WeWork?
He's essentially acting like Ray Kroc.