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Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

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Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#201
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe is at a size where they can easily afford all the flexibility they need without a middleman company.

Isn't that We's end goal though? To get billion dollar companies like Microsoft, Stripe, etc. as tenants. People that don't really want to deal with running an entire building when they can just pay someone else to do it.

That is already available. Ever heard of Cushman and Wakefield?

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#202
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe is at a size where they can easily afford all the flexibility they need without a middleman company.

Isn't that We's end goal though? To get billion dollar companies like Microsoft, Stripe, etc. as tenants. People that don't really want to deal with running an entire building when they can just pay someone else to do it.

[deleted]

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#203

This has all happened before. The proto-WeWork was called HQGlobal and the firm behind it was Frontline Capital. The whole thing unraveled in the 2000 bust as the tenants all went out of business and canceled their leases at the same time. WeWork is not going to be pretty when the economy turns. Bill Ackman backed Frontline Capital and it pretty much sunk his first hedge fund, Gotham Capital.

> when the economy turns

What if the economy never turns?

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also a lot more complicated than that. With a single class of shares every shareholder interest is aligned. It is not possible to create a subclass of shareholders among the existing shareholders without existing shareholders agreeing to it. So in a buyout all shares are equal and will receive and equal percentage of distribution of all assets regardless of how those assets are structured. The moment there are…

Eh. I don’t think the Delaware courts would go for it. Ebay vs Newmark is on point.

Does not have much in common - single class of stock with the same rights vs. different classes of stock with different rights.

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eddie Lampert, former CEO if Sears, seems to have gotten away with it.

Sears went bankrupt. In this context, for We, "getting away" with it doesn't really mean "Adam keeps the money." He got the money, there's no question there. Getting away with it has more to do with how the company fairs, so a bankrupt Sears isn't the best example.

The point is who cares if the company goes bankrupt if you were able to extract enough money out of it. He extracted $700mil, that's like a 20% of regus's (their main competitor) valuation. And he did it faster and without the need for profitability.

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#206
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe is at a size where they can easily afford all the flexibility they need without a middleman company.

Isn't that We's end goal though? To get billion dollar companies like Microsoft, Stripe, etc. as tenants. People that don't really want to deal with running an entire building when they can just pay someone else to do it.

No. Companies that big have the resources and stability do it themselves, and want control over their space as well. They have no need for a middleman other than real-estate brokers or construction companies to actually get the space.

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#207
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe is at a size where they can easily afford all the flexibility they need without a middleman company.

Stripe would almost certainly prefer to outsource this for places where they have a small handful of employees, and dealing with one company has a big opportunity cost buried in it that they almost certainly would be willing to pay.

If that was true then they would be, but they aren't. Companies that big can easily afford one or many full-time employees focused on office and resource management which is more than enough to figure out a few leases.

Remember this is a company that already has a major international business in one of the most regulation industries. Adding in a few real-estate deals is unlikely to be a major source of friction.

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#208
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is clearly a market for WeWork... and many competitors. WeWork is and will be a great company, no matter what. WeWork main competitor is Regus, founded in 1989. Regus is now present worldwide with revenues of 2.535 billion GBP (2018). Their market cap is a mere 3.68 billion! There are also tons of smaller companies in that sector which are not international (mostly 1/2 countries) with much lower valuations. So,…

Have you ever been in a Regus office? They're horrible spaces. They don't get it . WeWork is a lot nicer. That's why they're worth a lot more.

I'm probably in the minority but I find WeWork spaces horrible - just a collection of fishbowls. I can't get out of there fast enough.

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#209
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can work, but they need more anchors. Stripe, Gitlab, ... companies that are remote but have workers prefer to cowork. Economic downturn might actually help them if they can gobble long term low leases. More unemployed also means more consumer base outside big corporate America. Their biggest threat is small mom and pop coworking spaces like Gravitate in DSM. Geoff wouldn't sell for less than a massive premium, an…

Why on earth would stripe pay a middle man like WeWork to manage their office and lease?! Stripe is looking at buying an entire building. I'm pretty sure they can handle a 15 yr lease just fine. And don't need WeWork staff to decide what their office kitchens need.

Because demand might be elastic and you can keep costs closer to utilization and outsource stuff you don't want to do like manage an office

Same reason companies pay Google and Amazon for cloud servers

Re: Some WeWork Board Members Seek to Remove Adam Neumann as CEO

#210
post #160

This has all happened before. The proto-WeWork was called HQGlobal and the firm behind it was Frontline Capital. The whole thing unraveled in the 2000 bust as the tenants all went out of business and canceled their leases at the same time. WeWork is not going to be pretty when the economy turns. Bill Ackman backed Frontline Capital and it pretty much sunk his first hedge fund, Gotham Capital.

It can work, but they need more anchors. Stripe, Gitlab, ... companies that are remote but have workers prefer to cowork. Economic downturn might actually help them if they can gobble long term low leases. More unemployed also means more consumer base outside big corporate America. Their biggest threat is small mom and pop coworking spaces like Gravitate in DSM. Geoff wouldn't sell for less than a massive premium, an…

The anchors might lease, but it's essentially just them mitigating their risk at the expense of WeWork though, right? If Facebook leases an entire building via WeWork rather than doing it themselves (and they definitely have the capacity to do it themselves), it's because they've decided there's a good chance they'll vacate the space in a short period of time and they'd rather sign a short term contract with WeWork than deal with a 15 year lease. That's not great for WeWork though.
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