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WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

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21–30 of 291 posts

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#21
post #17

I still can't believe this guy gets to walk away with 1.7 billion dollars just for building up fluff while all the people who helped him grow have dire consequences both financial and personal. Unbelievable that this guy gets a clean chit, and all this isn't considered criminal. This to me is almost at the scale of Theranos. Only, this guy was smarter in the legal side of things, perhaps.

WeWork is under investigation, so.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#22
post #15

What on Earth is WeWork doing that requires TWELVE THOUSAND PEOPLE!? Holy fucking shit

Managing 800 physical office locations? That’s not really that many people per location.

Do they seriously have employees at each? I assumed it was either a franchise or contractor thing. Rare for a tech company to actually hire people directly for that sort of thing.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#23
post #17

I still can't believe this guy gets to walk away with 1.7 billion dollars just for building up fluff while all the people who helped him grow have dire consequences both financial and personal. Unbelievable that this guy gets a clean chit, and all this isn't considered criminal. This to me is almost at the scale of Theranos. Only, this guy was smarter in the legal side of things, perhaps.

I'd argue that they would have been reasonably happy with their salaries (and any other perks) while they were employed (otherwise they would have gone elsewhere). And whilst I've not read the article chances are there will be some severance payout. And whilst it's inconvenient there's a good chance many of them will find employment elsewhere. Lastly, the writing's been on the wall for some time now. I'd like to think that they would have braced themselves for this eventuality.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#24
post #17

I still can't believe this guy gets to walk away with 1.7 billion dollars just for building up fluff while all the people who helped him grow have dire consequences both financial and personal. Unbelievable that this guy gets a clean chit, and all this isn't considered criminal. This to me is almost at the scale of Theranos. Only, this guy was smarter in the legal side of things, perhaps.

You could look at this as a shifting of talent. Instead of those 2,400 people wasting their time managing short term office rentals for yuppies, perhaps they'll move on to more meaningful work! Some will start companies, some will join companies that provide more value to society, some will spend time with their families.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#26
post #17

I still can't believe this guy gets to walk away with 1.7 billion dollars just for building up fluff while all the people who helped him grow have dire consequences both financial and personal. Unbelievable that this guy gets a clean chit, and all this isn't considered criminal. This to me is almost at the scale of Theranos. Only, this guy was smarter in the legal side of things, perhaps.

for the people who got laid off, obviously it's very bad, they should sue and they may get something back as settlement.

For the existing employees who saw their stock options value deflated overnight, well tough luck. it's hard to become a millionaire

For the investors who just throw money to whoever in sight just to see what sticks, no tears at all

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#27
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Managing 800 physical office locations? That’s not really that many people per location.

Do they seriously have employees at each? I assumed it was either a franchise or contractor thing. Rare for a tech company to actually hire people directly for that sort of thing.

They aren't a tech company. They are an office leasing and real estate company, and have the appropriate employees for this type of business.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#29
post #17

I still can't believe this guy gets to walk away with 1.7 billion dollars just for building up fluff while all the people who helped him grow have dire consequences both financial and personal. Unbelievable that this guy gets a clean chit, and all this isn't considered criminal. This to me is almost at the scale of Theranos. Only, this guy was smarter in the legal side of things, perhaps.

I'd argue that they would have been reasonably happy with their salaries (and any other perks) while they were employed (otherwise they would have gone elsewhere). And whilst I've not read the article chances are there will be some severance payout. And whilst it's inconvenient there's a good chance many of them will find employment elsewhere. Lastly, the writing's been on the wall for some time now. I'd like to thin…

Look even if you want to be obtuse and pretend its not bad that people got lured into jobs that couldn't possibly last, and may have uprooted families only to get laid off now, and have to uproot them again, even pretending that is no big deal, which it is, but let's pretend.

MAYBE you can feel some emotion for the investors whose money was essentially stolen, by a scam artist?

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#30
post #17

I still can't believe this guy gets to walk away with 1.7 billion dollars just for building up fluff while all the people who helped him grow have dire consequences both financial and personal. Unbelievable that this guy gets a clean chit, and all this isn't considered criminal. This to me is almost at the scale of Theranos. Only, this guy was smarter in the legal side of things, perhaps.

To be clear, Neumann's $1.7 billion payout is from SoftBank shareholders. There's nothing obviously criminal about SoftBank's bailout. But I agree SoftBank didn't have to do it. WeWork was ostensibly bankrupt and SoftBank could have dictated pretty much any terms they wanted.
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