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WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

businessinsider.com

11–20 of 138 posts

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#11
post #2

So is this a thing now? That all new high-valuation tech companies of the last generation (Uber, "We") have to have some shady founder/CEO thing going on?

I doubt the amount of shady CEOs is any worse than it was at times in the past (the 80s being known for the "Gordon Gekko" type CEOs immediately come to mind). I think it just feels like there's more corruption because of a combination of us consuming more media, quicker and recency bias.

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#12
It's less about the actual transaction and more about the structure that permitted it and the capricious willingness to do it. There are red flags all over the place with this company, and the optics of him doing that just adds more fuel to the raging inferno of terrible governance.

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#13
post #5

Ergh, the lead picture in the article is terrible and paints him in a significantly negative light. I'm not a huge fan of WeWork's business model especially with the tax law exploitation in the UK but I find it quite irresponsible for newspapers to cherry pick such terrible photos - just like - don't have an extreme face closeup, get a picture of him standing on a stage[1] and don't pick one that makes me wary this a…

The article is from Business Insider, a well known clickbait content farm, not a newspaper.

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Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#15
post #5

Ergh, the lead picture in the article is terrible and paints him in a significantly negative light. I'm not a huge fan of WeWork's business model especially with the tax law exploitation in the UK but I find it quite irresponsible for newspapers to cherry pick such terrible photos - just like - don't have an extreme face closeup, get a picture of him standing on a stage[1] and don't pick one that makes me wary this a…

So, your complaint is that the article is presenting a viewpoint that you basically agree with, and making the CEO out to be a grifter, which he basically is, and therefore making him look like a grifter is uncomfortably biased? Hell, the article didn't even mention the insane narcissism of the IPO filing.

Yup, pretty much - if you have facts to stand on then it annoys me when arguments are watered down with unsubstantiated claims. Put a balanced picture in, use neutral phrasing and let the dude's actions speak for themselves as you reveal the twistedness.

Starting with a baseless attack just weakens your reporting.

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#16
Honestly, who cares?

A lot of people care now because they just filed for an IPO, which is why he returned the money.

But if this was a private company and a co-founder thought he deserved $6 million for his efforts and wanted to label it as a trademark transfer, I see no problem with it.

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#17
Why does WeWork increasingly look like one of those deals on Shark Tank that starts off looking great then goes way south when the sharks start probing?

I can see it now:

“Wait, so we’d be investing in your business which is leasing buildings from another business that you own... but we’re not getting a piece of that action?”

“Hold on, so we’d have to license the name of this company back from you and then you continue to get a royalty from that?”

“So what’s your revenue and how much did you take home last year? Sorry say that again?!?”

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#18
post #2

So is this a thing now? That all new high-valuation tech companies of the last generation (Uber, "We") have to have some shady founder/CEO thing going on?

I doubt the amount of shady CEOs is any worse than it was at times in the past (the 80s being known for the "Gordon Gekko" type CEOs immediately come to mind). I think it just feels like there's more corruption because of a combination of us consuming more media, quicker and recency bias.

+1 Thank you.

The whole Web 2.0 and beyond phenomenon is about getting some other sucker to over-pay for what you built before you run out of money.

Re: WeWork CEO gives back $5.9M from 'We' trademark after criticism

#19
post #2

So is this a thing now? That all new high-valuation tech companies of the last generation (Uber, "We") have to have some shady founder/CEO thing going on?

I don't think it's that shady, I'd much prefer founders having power over investors having power. If you've been on HN for a while you've heard way more stories about investors exploiting founders and ruining companies and lives. Both sides should be protected but yeah there exists a bias I'd rather it be on the founder side than the investors.
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