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WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

cnbc.com

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Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#31

Post by brosinante »

jbob2000 wrote: post #24
neya wrote: 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.

  shifting of talent
I hate this new reality.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#32

Post by toomuchtodo »

macspoofing wrote: post #30
neya wrote: 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.

SoftBank is trying to obtain a $2.8B loan for turning around WeWork [1]. Sunk cost fallacy at scale. SoftBank should've burned WeWork and Neumann's comp to the ground, while still paying out severance to the rank and file ("shoot the hostage").

Instead, SoftBank looks incompetent, Son looks incompetent, Neumann walks away a billionaire for delivering nothing of value, and layoffs are still happening. They're doubling down on financially destructive decisions. This is what happens when you have more money and vanity than courage.

[1] https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/SoftBank2/SoftBank-in-talks... (SoftBank in talks with Mizuho and Japan banks for $2.8bn loan)

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#33

Post by derision »

FussyZeus wrote: post #22
jonas21 wrote: 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.

WeWork is not a tech company

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#34

Post by gilrain »

jbob2000 wrote: post #24
neya wrote: 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.

I don't want my talent shifted. I want stability and peace of mind.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#35

Post by earthtolazlo »

gameswithgo wrote: post #29
chosenbreed37 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I feel badly for the employees. SoftBank, not so much.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#36

Post by adambyrtek »

gameswithgo wrote: post #29
chosenbreed37 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I feel no emotion for the investors since these are professional VC funds which should be fully aware of the risks involved. However, the situation would have been very different if they pulled out the IPO, cashed out to (among others) individual investors and then folded.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#37

Post by fat-chunk »

gameswithgo wrote: post #29
chosenbreed37 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I don't agree with the person you are replying to either, however I don't feel much emotion for VCs who throw their money around and don't do their proper due diligence.

A property leasing company that sub-leases property owned personally by the CEO is a massive conflict of interest and a huge red flag, how these "professional investors" came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to invest is beyond me.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#38

Post by chosenbreed37 »

gameswithgo wrote: post #29
chosenbreed37 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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

I've got plenty of sympathy for people being laid off I was just putting forward the case that it was good while it lasted. Less so for investors. From the perspective of the latter you win some, you lose some. And any concerns should be raised with people that funded the company to the tune of billions with what appears to be little governance or due diligence.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#39

Post by chewz »

neya wrote: 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.

Well if you define a market simply as a mechanism of wealth transmission from dumb people to smarter people then I think that Adam Neumann deserves every single cent of 1.7 billion dollars.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#40

Post by acd »

There is an startup bubble funded by central bank low interest rates. It’s understandable that capital is seeking higher gains. What is not so ok is that we are building a casino like economic bubble funding ideas which are not profitable. If interest rates where higher bets would be more selective.
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