WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO • Hacker News Board

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#381

Post by notyourday » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 10:15 AM UTC

goatinaboat wrote: post #287

notyourday wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets presume that for some reason Softbank wants to play in this space. What are the plays that are at its disposal? 1. It can buy Regus. Regus does not need money to survive, has poisoned pill and does not have a brand recognition. With 3B yearly revenue. Anything below 8x the revenue probably won't get a board's automatic stamp of approval and anything below 10x won't get a board's enthusiastic "Yes, please!". So t…

They may not be looking for an exit at all. But they have to. Like all VC funds Vision Fund has a set lifecycle. In their case they have 5 years to invest (starting on the day the fund closes to new investors, which has already happened) and then 7 years until maturity at which point it dissolves and returns capital to investors. The clock is ticking.

It depends on how their fund is structured. Based on what I have read the minimum life of their LPs is 12 years. At the scale it operates, and considering from whom it raises money it does not make much sense to structure it as a typical VC fund.

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#382

Post by Traster » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 10:48 AM UTC

streb-lo wrote: post #305

Traster wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the reason you don't get an answer to this is because this is article number 100352752. WeWork isn't a tech company because there's no unique technology they use to rent out office space- which is how they make money. Their business model is "Sign long term contracts cheap, rent out to short term tenants expensive". Which is fine, but it doesn't justify their valuation (which is predicated on them 'disrupting…

Isn't airbnb similarly disqualified under your definition?

Airbnb's business is the app that connects property owners to renters. Their app is the technology, their marginal costs are 0- you can add another property to the website trivially. Their value is in the network effects in their app just like facebook. Wework actually sign rental contracts and take on the risk of not being able to fill the properties.

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#383

Post by quickthrower2 » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 12:14 PM UTC

inimino wrote: post #377

perl4ever wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future. - Niels Bohr

I had previously heard this attributed to Yogi Berra, so I had to check. Apparently[1], it's an old Danish proverb. [1]: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/20/no-predict/

So non-future prediction is also difficult it seems!

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#384

Post by buboard » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 12:52 PM UTC

gbear605 wrote: post #330

buboard wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why is it here?

It acts as a tech company, so it gets treated as a tech company, but financially it isn't actually a tech company and doesn't deserve the valuation of one.

Yeap thats what i m trying to say. The herd thinks/thought of it as part of the tech ecosystem

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#385

Post by hanniabu » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 1:07 PM UTC

rrrazdan wrote: post #351

jackgavigan wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ..probably because he was never truly invested in/familiar with/cared that much about new technology and what people promise it can do. Where's the technology in WeWork?

We are current WeWork tenants. WeWork can’t even provide us an interface to manage and view who used WeWork credits in our org. We asked for a report and got a pdf after 2 days. Tech my foot. The printer software is an abomination.

After a year I never figured out how to print. You should be able to print from their app.

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#386

Post by blaser-waffle » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

braythwayt wrote: post #316

roymurdock wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a cornerstone of their brand relative to other office space leasing companies, and tech investors are how/where they got a lot of their funding. Check out their S-1, they mention "technology" 110 times: "Technology is at the foundation of our global platform. Our purpose-built technology and operational expertise has allowed us to scale our core WeWork space-as-a-service offering quickly, while improving the qua…

It’s “tech theatre,” not tech. It’s how they got their funding, but reading what even the happy users on HN have had to say, the technology isn’t core to why people rent from them.

> the technology isn’t core to why people rent from them

Okay, I'll bite: what is the core of their value-proposition? A cultural aesthetic? Cheap rent?

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#387

Post by ineedasername » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

konschubert wrote: post #379

ineedasername wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bankruptcy is a different story than a company just deciding, "Nope, we don't want the lease anymore". And most restaurants are structured as an LLC and owned by the parent corporation (or just independently owned by individuals) who can shut down the business and not be on the hook for any debts that were not secured with a personal guarantee.

WeWork is structured the same afaik.

Then unless the LLC's operated on credit secured by a WeWork guarantee, if the LLC dissolves then WeWork probably couldn't be sued for the broken lease. However I'm not a lawyer, much less one specializing in LLC liabilities etc.

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#388

Post by twic » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 1:38 PM UTC

rrrazdan wrote: post #351

jackgavigan wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ..probably because he was never truly invested in/familiar with/cared that much about new technology and what people promise it can do. Where's the technology in WeWork?

We are current WeWork tenants. WeWork can’t even provide us an interface to manage and view who used WeWork credits in our org. We asked for a report and got a pdf after 2 days. Tech my foot. The printer software is an abomination.

Oh, so they are a classic tech company, then.

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#389

Post by twic » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 1:40 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #342

dkrich wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Galloway's strength is that he's an amazing communicator and very arrogant. People eat up what he says without a moment's thought. And to be fair he's had some great calls, ie, Amazon's stock run in 2017 and this WeWork fiasco (although the WeWork one wasn't that hard to predict after the reports on the corporate malfeasance came out). Combine an arrogant and vociferous personality with a couple of correct calls and…

I occasionally order from Alexa but we call them “Amelia Bedelia orders” because there’s really no telling what we’ll actually get. It’s kind of fun. My favorite so far has been the bulk-order of travel size bars of dove soap. Why is that even a thing? Surely anyone who could fit 12 travel bars in their suitcase could just as easily fit a regular bar?

Yeah but what if you're travelling with twelve kids, apostles, etc?

Re: WeWork says will file to withdraw IPO

#390

Post by bpt3 » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

blaser-waffle wrote: post #386

braythwayt wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s “tech theatre,” not tech. It’s how they got their funding, but reading what even the happy users on HN have had to say, the technology isn’t core to why people rent from them.

> the technology isn’t core to why people rent from them Okay, I'll bite: what is the core of their value-proposition? A cultural aesthetic? Cheap rent?

As a former WeWork tenant, their value proposition to customers is that they provide office space quickly and without any long term obligation in convenient, trendy locations. They're also very eager to beat competitors on price in my personal experience.

Since it's very easy to set up a competitor (at least in my area, since numerous knockoffs have been created in the last few years) their margins are low at best, and they have almost no customer lock-in, I have no idea what their value proposition is for investors.