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WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

cnbc.com

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Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#261

Post by flashman »

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.

maybe we could shift them some money from Adam Neumann's bank account

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#262

Post by notus »

sanysany wrote: post #258
rchaud wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it is not a Ponzi scheme. Last I checked, a local taxi company that is still in business wants $30 to take me into town, which is 5 miles away. Uber is $7. The cost of that $7 are the billions they lose every quarter. It's not sustainable. They're a public company now, so to come up with fresh cash, they have to issue bonds and pay interest on them. How will they repay it when they aren't generating fresh cash…

I believe the plan is to increase prices. Cheap rides are to gain marketshare and customer acquisition. Not saying the strategy will be fruitful but it is a strategy.

That's a terrible plan considering any one of their competitors could not raise their own prices and now be a preferred choice to Uber.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#263

Post by csours »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #225
csours wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before a company goes public, the only way you get to be on the board is by being a cheerleader. After a company goes public you have a lot more responsibilities.

Right - I get that - but my thinking is, why would you make short-sighted greedy choices that are fundamentally bad business decisions? One could say hindsight is 20-20, but I don't buy that. WeWork at its core was a legit business (I say this as a former customer), unlike a say Theranos. It could have legitimately been a wildly successful company without the shenanigans. It seems trite to simply say that the board h…

I see what you're saying, but what I'm saying is not even on that axis. If you don't have a history of talking up the startups you are attached to, you don't get invited to be on the board of startups.

If you are critical of the growth plan or business practices, you are fired from the board.

edit: actually we might be agreeing.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#264

Post by solveit »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #187
Strom wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Options in a startup are always a lottery ticket. I would argue that no rational person assigns any significant value to them, because even career investors aren't able to pick winners and instead earn money by betting on a lot of different startups.

Right, so how did the fucking guy running the ship win the lottery on the backs of everyone who didn't?

The reason he made bank is because Softbank decided it would be a good idea to let Neumann burn money, gave Neumann a shit ton of money without actually buying control of Wework from Neumann, found that nobody else thought burning money was a good idea and so WeWork couldn't IPO, decided that burning money wasn't a great idea after all, found that Neumann liked burning money and would continue to run WeWork into the ground burning money every step of the way, found that they couldn't do shit because WeWork still belonged to Neumann, couldn't walk away because they were billions in the hole, and so decided to give Neumann even more money so they could actually control the company this time.

The employees pretty much got the typical outcome of working at a startup (startup runs along for a couple years, then fails). The fact that Adam Neumann made bank is rankling, but Rich People Burning Money and Also Accidentally Giving Some Away to Undeserving People Because They Did Incredibly Stupid Things isn't exactly something we can or should stop. You can't make it illegal to be stupid.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#265

Post by plntd »

swozey wrote: post #10

I can't fathom the morale at this place. I really hope things get better for these poor people caught in the middle of this shit show.

Imagine the employees with options worth millions a few months ago. Waiting for ipo and the wait period to cash out. Imagine the retirements, homes, vacations, goals, etc that people were dreaming of. Now all gone. It's must be like buying the winning lottery ticket only to lose it. Lots of hopes and dreams died for sure.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#267

Post by flukus »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #64
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.

“WeWork isn’t really a real estate company. It’s a state of consciousness, a generation of interconnected emotionally intelligent entrepreneurs.” -Adam Neumann.[1] Even after hearing that media raved about him/WeWork, analysts were bullish and investors pumped Billions. Startup media are generally happy with their funding related news as it is glamorous. And due to the funding noise, Startup ecosystem has forgotten t…

I don't understand how that doesn't trip the bullshit detectors of anyone that still has money to invest in the first place. That's language I'd expect from someone flogging a pyramid scheme.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#268

Post by RickJWagner »

I hate this for the laid-off employees. Especially at this time of the year, this sucks.

I feel enraged for stockholders. WeWork's management wasn't 'sticking to the knitting', as Buffett would say. They seemed preoccupied with trying to shape the world (see link below) and not so much providing value for shareholders or security to employees.

Hoping for a better, smarter, focused new company to come along and build the business.

https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-bans-meat-2018-7

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#269

Post by eternalny1 »

rchaud wrote: post #239
eternalny1 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber isn'ta Ponzi scheme. I use Uber all the time, as does everyone I know. Hell, I even drove for them for a while. They provide a needed service and they are subsidizing that to get rid of competition like Lyft and to grow a huge user base. Then, it's likely they will raise prices and start making money. But it is not a Ponzi scheme. Last I checked, a local taxi company that is still in business wants $30 to take m…

> But it is not a Ponzi scheme. Last I checked, a local taxi company that is still in business wants $30 to take me into town, which is 5 miles away. Uber is $7. The cost of that $7 are the billions they lose every quarter. It's not sustainable. They're a public company now, so to come up with fresh cash, they have to issue bonds and pay interest on them. How will they repay it when they aren't generating fresh cash…

> The cost of that $7 are the billions they lose every quarter. It's not sustainable.

They will raise prices eventually, they are in the "get a lot of regular users" phase still, growing that until they are ubiquitous.

Yes, they may face monopoly concerns then, but that is down the road.

What they will not face is competition from the $30 taxi companies, because unlike the taxi company they do not own any cars and the resultant costs of that.

Re: WeWork lays off 2,400 employees

#270

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

flukus wrote: post #267
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“WeWork isn’t really a real estate company. It’s a state of consciousness, a generation of interconnected emotionally intelligent entrepreneurs.” -Adam Neumann.[1] Even after hearing that media raved about him/WeWork, analysts were bullish and investors pumped Billions. Startup media are generally happy with their funding related news as it is glamorous. And due to the funding noise, Startup ecosystem has forgotten t…

I don't understand how that doesn't trip the bullshit detectors of anyone that still has money to invest in the first place. That's language I'd expect from someone flogging a pyramid scheme.

They know, they just do it to inflate the valuation & exit at the right time i.e. before the company goes down; The investor just before that is the real looser.
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