Live data from Hacker News

WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

businessinsider.com

71–80 of 274 posts

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#72
I’ve ridden this stock down almost all the way (came in at $5 then 2.50 then again at $0.50). I am a pretty bad investor in that my top criteria is to buy stocks that produce a good or service I love and then stick with them a long time.

As an operator WeWork adds so much value to us as we staff up all over the world. I love being able to go into any city and have a fun energetic and aesthetically beautiful environment. When I look at the WFH shift, I struggle to rationalize how companies wouldn’t rather utilize flex space as needed for group huddles than commit to long term leases. Their pricing is variable which is inflation resistant. Top line growing at 20% and they removed $2bn in run rate expenses. The list goes on…

Anyway I was wrong on literally every account. This was a huge (and expensive) lesson for me. Stocks always have room to go down no matter how low you came in at.

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#73
post #10

Thank goodness it never made it public (first time around). Can you imagine the capital destruction for pension funds?

I'm not sure if you are ironic or not.

What's bad about pension funds? People need, you know, to live off something when they are old.

The old model "we have a lot of kids and they will take care of us" no longer works as people have no kids...

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#74
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. For example there’s a pretty noticeable difference in the amount of wealth a society will have if they choose to build 890,721 intricate snowmen on the island of Manhattan instead of housing, power plants, and infrastructure.

Potential future wealth is not "destroyed" when we take actions which do not achieve that potential.

Opportunity cost is a very interesting concept. As you mention, if the wealth doesn't exist, it cannot possibly be destroyed. Why would anyone "leave money on the table" though?

Glutting the wealth creation is not fundamentally destructive - what if a specific location cannot actually sustain high production levels because their housing supply, energy supply, or talent supply is insufficient? What if unfettered growth will lead to a collapse that destroys a lot more value than the potential future wealth destroyed? What if a company heavily invests in business and retail construction and a global pandemic happens?

Wealth creation is impossible to separate from public policy. For Manhattan to exist, a large amount of money had to be poured into its fundamental blocks.

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#75
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. For example there’s a pretty noticeable difference in the amount of wealth a society will have if they choose to build 890,721 intricate snowmen on the island of Manhattan instead of housing, power plants, and infrastructure.

Potential future wealth is not "destroyed" when we take actions which do not achieve that potential.

[deleted]

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#77
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know, I’d say those snow sculptors are pretty wealthy there!

In the absence of some sort of external means of support they are dead.

You seem to be consistently conflating potential value with real value, but potential value is and always will be a red herring, so it's important to distinguish them and treat them each separately.

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#78
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean if it used to be a very large pile of US currency then yes, it definitely had a lot of value that was apparently destroyed.

Losing money doesn't destroy wealth. It just transfers it from one place to another.

If I buy a cattle farm, and then the cows all die, where did the wealth go?

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#79

It never had that much value, it just made it look like it did for long enough to get people to invest in it at vastly inflated prices. "Renting offices to work in" was never going to be a silicon valley style success, because it just can't scale that way.

> It never had that much value, it just made it look like it did for long enough to get people to invest in it at vastly inflated prices. A lot of "Silicon Valley success" fits this model too.

And the sunlight of high interest rates will purge the businesses that have no effective way of making money.

Re: WeWork has frittered away $46.7B in value as the stock sinks below ¢50

#80
post #55
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elizabeth Holmes should've picked an easier industry than healthcare considering Adam Neumann was selling hot air and made out like a fucking thief.

In Adam’s defense he created what’s actually an excellent product. I’m a happy WeWork customer it’s a great experience as a customer. Things would be a lot different for Holmes if that’s what she did.

Given their losses your rent would have to roughly double for WeWork to have any profit. May I know if the services provided to you are worth that much?
Post reply on HN