SoftBank and their investors deserve this. SoftBank wanted to take wework and jam it on the stock market, then pull their money out. They knew this company was trash, they are no better than Adam Neumann. Congrats to Adam for exposing and exploiting softbanks attempts to exploit the USA stock market. In the end this will stop future cases of investors trying to jam garbage companies into the public markets, essentially stealing money from retail investors who don’t know better
‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
11–20 of 95 posts
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#12SoftBank and their investors deserve this. SoftBank wanted to take wework and jam it on the stock market, then pull their money out. They knew this company was trash, they are no better than Adam Neumann. Congrats to Adam for exposing and exploiting softbanks attempts to exploit the USA stock market. In the end this will stop future cases of investors trying to jam garbage companies into the public markets, essential…
For, like, 3 years.
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#13The guy is getting $1.7bn. That is gluttonous. To put that into perspective, if you took even just $100m and divided it among the 1,000 workers laid off each one would get $100,000. Yet they get nothing. And this one man gets $1.7bn from a company that isn't even healthy enough to survive while nickle and diming janitors who get paid $24k/year. This is what late stage capitalism looks like.
I am a Capitalist but I approve this message. There has to be a sense of morality somewhere even when running a company. I truly believe that a company can make great profits while taking care of its people. I also believe that it is ok for the initial risk takers like founders/CEO to make a hell lot more money BUT not by destroying other people's lives. I don't think any private company should have any interference…
I'm a socialist but I applaud anyone willing to stand up against amoral practices like this. Your position closely resembles Warren's opinions on this matter.
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#14I don't have the sources for this atm, but I heard last night that SoftBank doesn't actually have the $9.5B it needs in funding to secure its controlling stake in WeWork. Which means the guy hasn't gotten his $1.7B yet.
So Softbank needs funding to buy out the controlling stake in WeWork. They're reaching out to Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, for that $9.5B. As of last night, MUFJ refused to lend money to Softbank if they intend on using it as a rescue package for WeWork.
Now Softbank is in a conundrum. This morning, I read that they're trying to figure out a way to slash Neuman's golden parachute from that $1.7B figure.
Schadenfreude is sweet sometimes.
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#15The guy is getting $1.7bn. That is gluttonous. To put that into perspective, if you took even just $100m and divided it among the 1,000 workers laid off each one would get $100,000. Yet they get nothing. And this one man gets $1.7bn from a company that isn't even healthy enough to survive while nickle and diming janitors who get paid $24k/year. This is what late stage capitalism looks like.
I am a Capitalist but I approve this message. There has to be a sense of morality somewhere even when running a company. I truly believe that a company can make great profits while taking care of its people. I also believe that it is ok for the initial risk takers like founders/CEO to make a hell lot more money BUT not by destroying other people's lives. I don't think any private company should have any interference…
I thought capitalism was all about rational self-interest. If there’s no government interference, what incentive is there to behave ethically? As far as I can tell the answer is “none” and that’s what we see playing out over and over again.
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#16Adam Neumann jacked $10B in funding from dumb, rich, foreign investors (SoftBank). Over 80% of that money was pumped into salaries and domestic real-estate deals. Why are people mad about this? Dude is a modern Robin Hood -- a national hero. Let him keep the $1.7B change.
Robin Hood didn't keep the money he stole.
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#17SoftBank and their investors deserve this. SoftBank wanted to take wework and jam it on the stock market, then pull their money out. They knew this company was trash, they are no better than Adam Neumann. Congrats to Adam for exposing and exploiting softbanks attempts to exploit the USA stock market. In the end this will stop future cases of investors trying to jam garbage companies into the public markets, essential…
>In the end this will stop future cases of investors trying to jam garbage companies into the public markets, essentially stealing money from retail investors who don’t know better
History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. I wish I could have hope that this wouldn't happen again in the future (banks selling an overvalued business to the public markets via IPO) But really, this has happened before and it will happen again. Human irrationality knows no bounds.
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#18The guy is getting $1.7bn. That is gluttonous. To put that into perspective, if you took even just $100m and divided it among the 1,000 workers laid off each one would get $100,000. Yet they get nothing. And this one man gets $1.7bn from a company that isn't even healthy enough to survive while nickle and diming janitors who get paid $24k/year. This is what late stage capitalism looks like.
I am a Capitalist but I approve this message. There has to be a sense of morality somewhere even when running a company. I truly believe that a company can make great profits while taking care of its people. I also believe that it is ok for the initial risk takers like founders/CEO to make a hell lot more money BUT not by destroying other people's lives. I don't think any private company should have any interference…
> I don't think any private company should have any interference by the Govt. BUT every founder/owner/CEO should think about their people first.
This amounts to an ideological viewpoint, however it doesn't map to reality. If the government doesn't step in, the worst of the worst will sift up to the top, and the most complacent will sift to the bottom. It's how things naturally fall into place.
Exploitative people in an unchecked market have an unmatched advantage. If you believe in real market competition, then pure capitalism cannot work because it stifles competition by creating unfair disadvantages for CEOs who think about their people, discouraging them from acting benevolently.
The problem is that you see the government as this authoritarian beast who must be kept in a cage for the safety of its people, when in reality a healthy government is its people. Government regulations in a free market are a result of the consumers who participate in the market wanting protection.
In the end, you either favor consumer protection or corporate protection. Which seems more moral to you?
Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#19SoftBank and their investors deserve this. SoftBank wanted to take wework and jam it on the stock market, then pull their money out. They knew this company was trash, they are no better than Adam Neumann. Congrats to Adam for exposing and exploiting softbanks attempts to exploit the USA stock market. In the end this will stop future cases of investors trying to jam garbage companies into the public markets, essential…
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Re: ‘We were sold off’: WeWork’s staff face uncertain future as company collapses
#20The guy is getting $1.7bn. That is gluttonous. To put that into perspective, if you took even just $100m and divided it among the 1,000 workers laid off each one would get $100,000. Yet they get nothing. And this one man gets $1.7bn from a company that isn't even healthy enough to survive while nickle and diming janitors who get paid $24k/year. This is what late stage capitalism looks like.
I am a Capitalist but I approve this message. There has to be a sense of morality somewhere even when running a company. I truly believe that a company can make great profits while taking care of its people. I also believe that it is ok for the initial risk takers like founders/CEO to make a hell lot more money BUT not by destroying other people's lives. I don't think any private company should have any interference…
The problem is that capitalism in a vacuum has no room for morality. Your morals are just opportunities for someone with fewer scruples to swoop in and underbid you. You want to keep jobs in your company's home town, someone else just has the jobs done for slave wages overseas and puts you out of business. You take care to dispose of hazardous waste responsibly, someone else just dumps it into the nearest river and puts you out of business. You make sure your marketing materials don't make claims you can't back up, someone else just makes the flashiest claims they can think of and puts you out of business. Doing the right thing costs more than doing the wrong thing; your morals are someone else's opportunity.
It's not a problem that can be solved by individual business owners, no matter how moral they are, because at its root it's a collective action problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action_problem). The more business owners sign on to a platform of "moral capitalism," the bigger the opportunity created for the first business owner willing to act immorally, and thus the greater the temptation there will be to do so. Eventually the temptation becomes great enough that someone breaks ranks, and then everyone else has to follow or risk being put out of business. The race always ends in a sprint towards the bottom.
This is why we have regulation; the only way to cut this knot is for some external entity to force everybody to play by the same rules. It's the only way to prevent honest businesses from getting eaten alive by the dishonest ones. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best one anyone's come up with so far.