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WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

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Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#241

Post by mason55 »

MiroF wrote: post #64
joshcain wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corporate governance was definitely a factor, but getting cut down from $47B to $10-15B is... a lot. Public market investors clearly have a much worse opinion of We's fundamentals than SoftBank did.

Yeah - these institutional investors have a lot riding on "the market was responding to weworks governance structure" and I don't think that is really representative of the facts.

I mean, it likely doesn't hurt anything. I'm sure the underwriters (JPM etc.) have spoken to their institutional clients and no one has said "getting rid of Adam will make my valuation go down."

So you get rid of Adam (and his supermajority voting rights) have some quiet conversations about how people value the company now. Then you decide if you're willing to take whatever haircut the market is offering from the last private round.

If We is to be believed the other option is to halt all expansion. They claim that mature locations are cash flow positive. If that's true then you don't necessarily need to take a haircut, you just stop expanding, prove to the market that you actually do have a business, and then either start siphoning off the cash or try to IPO again.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#242

Post by AgloeDreams »

metalliqaz wrote: post #92
cgearhart wrote: post #56

I had concerns earlier this year when I interviewed at WeWork—which was the worst interview experience I’ve ever had. I applied for a data science role. The first two hours of the on-site were painful—they seemed to be asking questions tailored to be outside my experience. The third interviewer came into the room and said, “I, uh, just looked at your resume and I have to ask, why do you want to be a backend engineer?…

WeWork is basically a real estate company. Why would they need a data science engineer?

I never felt it was so black and white as people make it which is part of WeWork's problem.

WeWork's long game and eventual income is Real Estate, but their short game, their bread and butter, their brand, and their marketing is and always has been services and transactions. They compete much closer to a Starbucks than a Real Estate company but it's like neither side quite got it. (esp considering the CEO was a scam artist abusing the Real Estate side of the business while misdirecting everyone towards services)

WeWork is (to most) a company whose focus was on people and atmosphere, and on service. I would argue that they are MUCH closer to a hospitality chain like Marriott than a Real Estate firm or a tech co.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#243

Post by mason55 »

dehrmann wrote: post #172
jamestimmins wrote: post #28

I get the impression that SoftBank learned the wrong lesson from Uber. While Uber also raised billions of dollars and had a CEO get forced out by investors, it was broadly understood that his sin was creating a toxic/sexist culture. It wasn't related to business fundamentals, per se. WeWork's sins were less of rampant sexism, and more closely related to an unreasonable valuation and a business that wasn't prepared fo…

> it was broadly understood that his sin was creating a toxic/sexist culture Excluding the sexism, the toxic parts go hand-in-hand with the mindset Uber needed to ignore incumbents and regulations. The only reason Uber was successful was because of that attitude. Where it failed was growing up.

> The only reason Uber was successful was because of that attitude. Where it failed was growing up.

Which, by the way, is not a weird thing. Different stages of a company lifecycle require different types of leadership.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#244

Post by artsyca »

There are a lot of large and small ironies at play, but the one that irks me the most is the interrelation between `investment` in the financial sense and `investment` in the dress sense, for the word has its root in the word `vestment` which means `clothing` (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=investment)

I keep asking myself how startup culture has gone so far off the rails in terms of professional business tropes, even while they court traditional financial backing to the point where the emperor's new clothes scenario is playing out in front of us and we barely even notice? One word: entitlement

Could this fellow have stood a chance if he wasn't so nonchalant with his appearance opting for the messianic playboy look rather than the modest preppy techie?

I'm sure this comment will get downvoted to oblivion but what are imaginary internet points for if not spending on counterculture opinions?

I say the reason this all fell apart is because the guy is simply unlikeable and his shitty entitled-looking Keith Raniere-esque stage presence did nothing to help

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#246

Post by munificent »

jonknee wrote: post #238
ImprovedSilence wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see how their leadership is a bit bush league and they are potentially overvalued, but it’s not obvious to me that their basic value proposition sucks or is that far off the mark.

They sell things for less than cost at scale , what basic value proposition is that? Read that S-1, it's an absolute hot mess.

> They sell things for less than cost at scale,

God, I love this phrase so much. It's such a brilliant stab at many of these recent unicorns. "Oh you think they can burn money fast, well watch how fast we burn it! We're number one!"

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#247

Post by artsyca »

artsyca wrote: post #244

There are a lot of large and small ironies at play, but the one that irks me the most is the interrelation between `investment` in the financial sense and `investment` in the dress sense, for the word has its root in the word `vestment` which means `clothing` ( https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=investment ) I keep asking myself how startup culture has gone so far off the rails in terms of professional business trop…

-> A little meme for y'all because it would be so cool to see a guy who calls his company `WeWork` actually wearing a work shirt for once: https://ibb.co/WnFDvfb

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#248

Post by vegannet »

joshpadnick wrote: post #210

I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this, but I actually just signed up to be a (thankfully month-to-month) WeWork customer for a HotDesk today in Phoenix, and it's actually been a pretty great experience: Great space, nice people, reasonable IT, I was up and running and working within 30 minutes of doing my tour. And yes I've had a cup of the famous We Kombucha. This particular location just opened 3 weeks ago and is ap…

The reason WeWork is great is because investors are subsidising our memberships, just like Uber is cheap because investors are shovelling in cash. WeWork has the potential for profitability if you take away the ridiculousness but the ridiculousness _is_ WeWork: co-working spaces have existed for years, companies like IWG (Regus) offer the same as WeWork and they're profitable... because they don't have a full time bar staff, a live DJ and a skateboard ramp in their lobby. Yes, the new flagship WeWork in London has a skateboard ramp and live DJ in the lobby. When WeWork fails (and their spaces are scooped up by the mature players in the market) the ridiculousness will disappear and we'll be left the same space that has been available all along.

I like WeWork, WeWork has value, but ping-pong and baristas don't make for 10x valuations.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#249

Post by mtnGoat »

yroc92 wrote: post #102
rainyMammoth wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar comical situation with Uber a couple months ago. I was arguing that the offer they gave me was a paycut compared to my current position. The recruiter explained to me that I should value the stocks not on the latest valuation but on the 100% certain 250B$ valuation on IPO day. Unfortunately recruiters get a bonus when you sign and are not accountable for anything down the line. They have all the incen…

Are employees even able to sell on IPO day?

I think Ubers lockup expires November 6th. should be an interesting day to watch that stock.

Re: WeWork’s Adam Neumann Steps Down as CEO

#250

Post by drevil-v2 »

xivzgrev wrote: post #194

Wow I am floored. Given how he had structured the company so favorably toward him, I’m surprised he could put his ego in check for this. Their back must be really against a wall if they don’t raise that $3 billion

I read an article that Adam Neumann has a $700 million line of credit against his WeWork shares and has already drawn down around $550 million of that (to purchase real estate and lease back to We).

After the IPO valuation downgrade the banks are now questioning the value of his collateral WeWork shares and could force a margin call.

I think this might be driving it.

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