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WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

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Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note, I miss the East River ferry. It made my commute 100x more enjoyable than the subway (except when the ferries would leave my dock early and then yell at me for it).

What do you mean "miss"? There's plenty of ferry routes across the East River. Quite possibly more now than ever before.

Ha, I don't live there anymore! The actual "miss"!

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#112
post #60

Interesting that Goldman Sachs pumped up their valuation to $60-90 billion at one point, but now won’t give them a lifeline: “ Goldman Sachs, one of WeWork’s investors, advisers and customers, had been among a consortium of banks willing to lend $6bn had the IPO succeeded but has so far sat out the new financing discussions out of concern about the level of uncertainty surrounding the company, one person said.”

My first thought was related to this: hhow is it possible that one moment the company is ready for an IPO, with all the due diligence that comes with it and backing of financial giants, and then next month be desperate for cash? Isn’t there some sort of fraud going on in this situation?

> how is it possible that one moment the company is ready for an IPO...and then next month be desperate for cash?

An IPO is fundamentally a fundraising event, so it makes some sense.

The harder question would be why is some successful, well-funded company looking do dilute shareholders for even more funding.

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you found the company you own the shares. You divy out options when you, the founder, hire or make deals. You could alternatively also give actual shares (usually VCs get a share %)

That's not usually how it works (WeWork doesn't follow the usual pattern, so they might not have done this). Generally, companies that plan to raise money incorporate, and founders are given options at the strike price at time of founding (generally so small to be effectively free), which vest over time. You also create an option pool that's already reserved for hiring. Founders don't generally hire someone and give…

The face amount on the stock is usually so small that you immediately exercise them for a few hundred or few thousand dollars and file an 83(b)

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this assumes there’s some inner core of WeWork that is worth saving. I mean, maybe Softbank will fall for a sunk cost fallacy and pursue it irrationally, but I don’t see why that would be useful instead of just founding a different company to do that small kernel of an idea at much lower scale. It’s actually a big if to me whether there even is a kernel of a business idea. Even if there is, can it (assuming m…

There is a business. Long-term real estate leases that then sublease the space short term is an established business model. It just doesn't trade at the same multiples.

This seems like a nearly completely unrelated point.

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a business. Long-term real estate leases that then sublease the space short term is an established business model. It just doesn't trade at the same multiples.

This seems like a nearly completely unrelated point.

> I think this assumes there’s some inner core of WeWork that is worth saving.

It seems directly related to your first sentence, doesn't it?

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#117
post #10

Can’t wait to see WeWork crumble. If they had done an IPO I was hoping to open up a short position. If WeWork does run out of cash, I’ll be pulling money out from my tech stocks and holding cash for a while.

Don't understand your linkage to tech stocks… WeWork are a property company

The theory is that WeWork is a canary. It’s a shit company propped up by dumb investor cash. If it collapses and runs out of money, it could be a sign that investment in tech in general is drying up, probably because money isn’t flowing as easily as it once did and less startups are raising the cash to rent expensive WeWork office space, basically some things are happening and it’s better not to be heavily invested in case of sudden moves.

It has nothing to do with startups losing office space.

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even so, surely the revenue numbers were shared internally at some point. After which, anyone who could would have run for the hills.

Unless you're stuck in a job where you're below market in exchange for equity, as long as the checks keep clearing, you're not really incentivized to run for the hills. Keep your resume fresh, sure. Though we can make presumptions about what having WW on your resume will do reputation-wise, it sounds like it was a good opportunity to also fill it with a ton of buzz words.

I guess. But I bet the work environment was terrible. Why waste time? Life is too short, pull the trigger and leave. If you can.

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People like easy money. Anyone with ambition, opportunity, talent and foresight would likely have left We after a month and never looked back.

Or they used their cushy job, high salary, and low expected work output as a nice way to fund and work their side projects. If you leave work energized from not doing much, you have plenty of energy to burn off building something. I know plenty of ambitious and talented developers who work at menial jobs to cash a paycheck and pay for their side projects.

Huh? What do your acquaintances do then for 8 hours, sleep?

Re: WeWork chases new financing as cash crunch looms

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or they used their cushy job, high salary, and low expected work output as a nice way to fund and work their side projects. If you leave work energized from not doing much, you have plenty of energy to burn off building something. I know plenty of ambitious and talented developers who work at menial jobs to cash a paycheck and pay for their side projects.

Huh? What do your acquaintances do then for 8 hours, sleep?

Get to work at 9-10am. Work slowly doing trivial things. Eat long lunches. Go to the gym. Leave by 5pm. Get home by 6pm, and have the energy to get back on the computer.

Where as I have absolutely no desire to look at a computer when I GET to work, let alone after work.

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