11–20 of 124 posts
Not surprising, was wondering how SoftBank seemingly walked away so easily. If you are Softbank do you use this Covid crisis to back WeWork in to a corner even if their suit is legitimate as they might run out of cash before it reaches the courts? From what I understood SoftBank already owns a majority of WeWork so how does the company they own, suing them work?
Quote: WeWork’s board said that it “regrets the fact that SoftBank continues to put its own interests ahead of those of WeWork’s minority stockholders.” Of course they’re going do to that, it’s called fiduciary duty to their own stakeholders! Such diligence is something WeWork’s board seemed to casually overlook for far too long. At this point why would SoftBank buy WeWork shares that are in all likelihood worth litt…
Quote: WeWork’s board said that it “regrets the fact that SoftBank continues to put its own interests ahead of those of WeWork’s minority stockholders.” Of course they’re going do to that, it’s called fiduciary duty to their own stakeholders! Such diligence is something WeWork’s board seemed to casually overlook for far too long. At this point why would SoftBank buy WeWork shares that are in all likelihood worth litt…
> it’s called fiduciary duty to their own stakeholders SoftBank has a fiduciary obligation to its shareholders. (Note: not all stakeholders. It has a duty to them. But it's not a fiduciary one.) It also has a fiduciary obligation to WeWork shareholders, by virtue of its Board seat. This case is, in summary, about how those duties conflict.
All that is needed is a weighting factor between the two loss functions (in this case, obligations) to deal with cases like this, and to make the policy (in this case, term sheet) continuous and differentiable as well.
Quote: WeWork’s board said that it “regrets the fact that SoftBank continues to put its own interests ahead of those of WeWork’s minority stockholders.” Of course they’re going do to that, it’s called fiduciary duty to their own stakeholders! Such diligence is something WeWork’s board seemed to casually overlook for far too long. At this point why would SoftBank buy WeWork shares that are in all likelihood worth litt…
Quote: WeWork’s board said that it “regrets the fact that SoftBank continues to put its own interests ahead of those of WeWork’s minority stockholders.” Of course they’re going do to that, it’s called fiduciary duty to their own stakeholders! Such diligence is something WeWork’s board seemed to casually overlook for far too long. At this point why would SoftBank buy WeWork shares that are in all likelihood worth litt…
"...You gotta know when to fold'm.... know when hold'm.... know when to walk away... and know when to run!"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it’s called fiduciary duty to their own stakeholders SoftBank has a fiduciary obligation to its shareholders. (Note: not all stakeholders. It has a duty to them. But it's not a fiduciary one.) It also has a fiduciary obligation to WeWork shareholders, by virtue of its Board seat. This case is, in summary, about how those duties conflict.
Conflict-of-interest is a human-invented notion that is rooted in the idea that the world is black and white, and it must be one or the other. That isn't the nature of how the rest of the universe operates. All that is needed is a weighting factor between the two loss functions (in this case, obligations) to deal with cases like this, and to make the policy (in this case, term sheet) continuous and differentiable as…
Assuming this is sarcasm. If not, it’s an employment guarantee for litigators.
I read that Wework had $4B in the bank at the beginning of the year. Also they are actively trying to reduce their own rent up to 30% from their landlords. And at the same time Wework gives up to 50% discount to its own large tenants, so they can stay during this hard time. No idea how long it can operate like that. If Wework had to crash, I am concerned for the whole US commercial real-estate. Wework is renting so m…
WeWork is big. CRE is huge. WeWork is not even among the top ten largest lessees in America.
Litigation is expensive, but I doubt it's going to cost SoftBank anywhere near $3B (unless they lose, which they probably won't).
SoftBank just has to wait for WeWork to exhaust its cash reserves. It's clear SoftBank will take whatever steps are necessary for the deal to close and them light another $3B on fire. From a paywall FT article [1] quoted in Matt Levin's piece ("WeWon't") on this: > "Thousands of WeWork tenants have refused to pay rent or sought to terminate their leases over the past month, heaping pressure on the lossmaking group as…