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WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

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Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#301

Post by jakoblorz »

scott_s wrote: post #289
gwbas1c wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I predict WeWork is still going to be around in another decade. There's clearly a ton of demand for what they provide There's also a TON of rent-a-desk places. The big questions are: - What's the benefit to a large corporation doing this instead of lots of small companies? (The economies of scale need to outweigh the large corporate overhead.) - What's WeWork's secret sauce or first mover advantage?

In addition to the advantages others listed, I think a big advantage of a large corporation is risk management. If you're a "small" company managing a handful of buildings, and something catastrophic happens to one of those buildings, that could threaten the company's existence. More so if those handful of buildings are in the same city, and all suffer from the same event (flood, hurricane, earthquake, etc.). A large…

But that doesn’t prevent small companies to just take the risk. And by doing so, they are as efficient as WeWork and compete on the same level. What counts is the product and that is the same from the small and big company.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#302

Post by moate »

josefresco wrote: post #228
moate wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a good read: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/9/23/20879656/wework-mess-ex... Short answer: No, it's not a sexual assault thing. It's a "shady self-dealing business" thing

Sort of true ...there was an allegation made and lawsuit: https://www.vox.com/2018/10/12/17968668/wework-employee-sexu...

Him allowing a toxic culture in which shitty people were hired and allowed to behave poorly is very bad and likely helped push him out.

However, those allegations aren't against Neumann, so I personally don't think this quite qualifies as a #MeToo strike against him specifically, but maybe I'm applying that concept too stringently?

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#303

Post by joshpadnick »

ben509 wrote: post #276
joshpadnick wrote: post #210

I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this, but I actually just signed up to be a (thankfully month-to-month) WeWork customer for a HotDesk today in Phoenix, and it's actually been a pretty great experience: Great space, nice people, reasonable IT, I was up and running and working within 30 minutes of doing my tour. And yes I've had a cup of the famous We Kombucha. This particular location just opened 3 weeks ago and is ap…

My company was in WeWork for roughly 2017. I had your initial impression, it does look good and you can certainly get up and running quickly. But after a while, my feeling was that it really seemed to be poorly thought out as an office space. I get the appeal of natural light, but you were looking right at your neighbors. The hardwood floors look great, but everyone with heels is banging away, and there was generally…

Yeah, I've noticed this, too. It definitely optimizes for the initial "Oh wow" walk-in experience. But day-to-day could well be different. As one example, I'm drowning out their hip background music with my earphones and something that enables me to actually concentrate.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#304

Post by ageitgey »

jen20 wrote: post #272
munificent wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's the upside of having a giant corporation owning all coworking spaces, versus having many small and independent small businesses running and operating independent coworking spaces? Advantage to customers? Likely minimal. Advantage to the company itself: economies of scale and, likely more importantly, lack of competition allowing them to increase prices. The very clear trend across all sectors is that compani…

The advantage to me with Spaces (which I believe is owned by Regus) is that I can do guest co-working in any city they happen to be present - and since I travel extensively, the bigger the network the better, as far as I'm concerned. Sadly WeWork do not appear to offer this option (or didn't last time I looked).

WeWork offers this if you sign up for an American Express Platinum Business card and take advantage of the free year of WeWork benefit. I can (and do!) book any WeWork in the world any day - all for $0.

Yes, that's right, the free AMEX WeWork plan is significantly better than any WeWork plan you can buy. That's start-up logic for you. I stopped paying WeWork after 1-2 years as a paying customer because their free plan was better.

I live in London and I can choose from any of 36 WeWork London locations for tomorrow along with anywhere else in the world. It's nice living off of VC money.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#305

Post by rocqua »

Traster wrote: post #143
rcardo11 wrote: post #66

Sorry for my ignorance on this, but recently I find that top hacker news articles need a paid subscription. Do you have a trick for accessing them or just everyone here has a paid subscription?

On NYT in particular, load the page, when the text loads hit escape and the subscription nag simply doesn't load. It's not particularly ethical, but on the other hand maybe NYT should get serious about the software that's meant to protect its business model.

"If they don't want me to steal, they should have better locks." Would not be a good defense to allow theft.

That is not to say piracy is theft. Only that 'they should protect themselves better' is not a justification.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#306

Post by anaphor »

knd775 wrote: post #157
nytesky wrote: post #90

I assume he still retains the gobs or cash extracted through all his shenanigans and controlling shares? And thus could reinstate himself after IPO?

They loaned him a lot of the money that he used to buy the properties. It remains to be seen how the loans are structured, but it's possible that the company can call in their loans and put him in a position that he needs to sell properties.

Wouldn't he still be making money on the sale, unless the loans gain the same amount of interest as the amount the properties have appreciated by?

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#307

Post by hyperbovine »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #206
codesushi42 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, and only by reading the headlines. A WeWork recruiter reached out to me. I laughed out loud and added it to the list of companies I would never work for. Not only do they do nothing interesting, but they are apparently unethical as well. No doubt another failed tech bro pump 'n dump scheme headed to the dustbin of history.

Definitely just another failed tech bro pump 'n dump scheme headed to the dustbin of history. I seriously doubt that. I think they're overvalued too, but I predict WeWork is still going to be around in another decade. There's clearly a ton of demand for what they provide.

> There's clearly a ton of demand for what they provide.

There has always been, and will always be, demand for the ability to buy one dollar for 80 cents. This is not some newfangled business model. Amazingly, it keeps cropping up again and again.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#308

Post by whoisjuan »

SXX wrote: post #298
Tiktaalik wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine how working for WeWork feels like, right now. Focus on stealing office supplies.

Bart, it's not about how much stock you have; it's about how much copper wire you can get out of the building with. (c) Simpsons

I love that episode because I'm sure that's how it was in the Dot-Com Bubble. People basically taking everything they could.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arENYYkYBts

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#309

Post by SirensOfTitan »

vegannet wrote: post #248
joshpadnick wrote: post #210

I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this, but I actually just signed up to be a (thankfully month-to-month) WeWork customer for a HotDesk today in Phoenix, and it's actually been a pretty great experience: Great space, nice people, reasonable IT, I was up and running and working within 30 minutes of doing my tour. And yes I've had a cup of the famous We Kombucha. This particular location just opened 3 weeks ago and is ap…

The reason WeWork is great is because investors are subsidising our memberships, just like Uber is cheap because investors are shovelling in cash. WeWork has the potential for profitability if you take away the ridiculousness but the ridiculousness _is_ WeWork: co-working spaces have existed for years, companies like IWG (Regus) offer the same as WeWork and they're profitable... because they don't have a full time ba…

The superfluous perks are a red herring, they’re not why WeWork doesn’t work. Regus filed for bankruptcy after the dotcom collapse for similar reasons WeWork is struggling: taking a bunch of long term leases and re-leasing them out as short term leases to economically vulnerable businesses is a recipe for disaster.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#310

Post by DebtDeflation »

609venezia wrote: post #267
DebtDeflation wrote: post #106

CNBC reporting his Class B and C shares will be further reduced from 10:1 to 3:1 voting rights, so he no longer will control the majority of votes. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/24/wework-ceo-adam-neumann-is-e...

Wow. That's a surprise. I wonder what kind of stick they had to beat him into that?

Softbank probably made it clear to him that if there is any hope to salvage the IPO and have a chance at a lucrative exit, this is the only path forward.

That or they found his cereal box and threatened to call the cops.

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