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WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

reuters.com

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Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#51

Post by snypher »

howlingfantods wrote: post #46

Guys, it’s chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wework is not going out of business. One of the top uses of chapter 11 is to renegotiate/break commercial leases. Wework is going to continue as a company though it may shut down some locations. It is absolutely going to use chapter 11 to pressure landlords to renegotiate leases.

I don't believe Chapter 11 has a very high survival rate, and whatever would emerge would not resemble WeWork except in name. They're essentially out of business in my mind (but have been for some time now).

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#52

Post by mkwarman »

cowsandmilk wrote: post #28
mkwarman wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's likely they were literally referring to the economy rather than return to office, considering WeWork stands only to lose when employees work from their employer's office

In their 2019 S-1, WeWork stated 40% of their memberships were from companies with over 500 employees. For many companies, moving to remote did mean terminating WeWork memberships.

Interesting! Thanks for educating me. I always assumed significantly more of their business was remote folks that didn't want to work from their actual home.

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#53

Post by nytesky »

howlingfantods wrote: post #46

Guys, it’s chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wework is not going out of business. One of the top uses of chapter 11 is to renegotiate/break commercial leases. Wework is going to continue as a company though it may shut down some locations. It is absolutely going to use chapter 11 to pressure landlords to renegotiate leases.

WeWork doesn’t own any buildings, has the code base website and brand for its booking site, list of members, and some staff. Cheap 11 will likely remove executives, so all that’s left is the leases as far as a ‘business’. Which are worthless because new ones negotiated now would be way more favorable.

So it’s stripped to a brand and website and soled to Regus I bet.

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#54

Post by mavelikara »

jrflowers wrote: post #47
mavelikara wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That wasn’t the question. Question was why stop using a thing which serves you well, because it couldn’t do another thing to your satisfaction? I don’t blame my toothpaste for not caffeinating me enough. The OPs ask is a very specific niche - conference rooms that can be used for highly confidential meetings. Even in a typical SV open office, most office rooms have glass walls which do not provide the confidentiality…

> I don’t blame my toothpaste for not caffeinating me enough. This illustrates why I like the question! An office environment that includes even slightly private conference rooms is literally unthinkable. I’m assuming maybe they have luxuries like that in the Pentagon and Cheyenne Mountain, but to picture a conference room that doesn’t require huddles and whispers in the same building as desk space is exactly the sam…

Of course, the average office desk worker carries nuclear codes in their back pocket and communicate with each other using furtive glances and discreet hand signals. It is totally unpardonable that a mass-market hipster coworking space did not consider them when designing their spaces. /s

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#55

Post by csomar »

huevosabio wrote: post #50
yelling_cat wrote: post #32

I'd used WeWork offices for solo work with no issues, so I didn't do sufficient diligence when I booked a conference room at one for a confidential client meeting. The room's walls were all clear and so thin that any conversation above a quiet murmur was easily heard from the hall outside. I asked the onsite manager for a more suitable room, but she told me they were all like that there. I ended up sticking the easel…

I worked as a guest of a friend from a wework in SF. Took a meeting from a phone booth and then came back to one of the desks. Later, another person went into the phone booth and I could hear everything . What's the purpose of the phone booth if it can isolate sound?

It looks cute and edgy. I thought that’s why people were paying the insane premium at wework?

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#56

Post by mkwarman »

tharkun__ wrote: post #41
cowsandmilk wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In their 2019 S-1, WeWork stated 40% of their memberships were from companies with over 500 employees. For many companies, moving to remote did mean terminating WeWork memberships.

This is why I commented the way I did but I guess your parent found it down-vote-worthy. One of my recent companies was one of those. A bit smaller but their entire office footprint was at WeWork offices in various places. Zero remote before Covid. Had to be in a WeWork office where they had a presence. Not even just "a" WeWork.

> I guess your parent found it down-vote-worthy.

I didn't downvote you. I don't even have the ability to downvote on HN yet. I just interpreted the parent comment differently and thought the different perspective could help provide context. Especially since I was similarly surprised at the idea that someone would prefer mandatory return to office

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#57

Post by tempsy »

howlingfantods wrote: post #46

Guys, it’s chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wework is not going out of business. One of the top uses of chapter 11 is to renegotiate/break commercial leases. Wework is going to continue as a company though it may shut down some locations. It is absolutely going to use chapter 11 to pressure landlords to renegotiate leases.

During the second quarter, WeWork lost $397 million. It said it had $680 million of liquidity, $205 million of which was cash.

The company had net long-term debt of $2.9 billion as of June end and more than $13 billion in long-term leases, at a time when rising borrowing costs are hurting the commercial real estate sector.

I don’t know even if they want to continue operating the math isn’t mathing. And commercial landlords are also hurting badly so not sure they are in a position to make some sweetheart deal with WeWork.

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#58

Post by ceejayoz »

mavelikara wrote: post #54
jrflowers wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t blame my toothpaste for not caffeinating me enough. This illustrates why I like the question! An office environment that includes even slightly private conference rooms is literally unthinkable. I’m assuming maybe they have luxuries like that in the Pentagon and Cheyenne Mountain, but to picture a conference room that doesn’t require huddles and whispers in the same building as desk space is exactly the sam…

Of course, the average office desk worker carries nuclear codes in their back pocket and communicate with each other using furtive glances and discreet hand signals. It is totally unpardonable that a mass-market hipster coworking space did not consider them when designing their spaces. /s

Maybe not nuclear codes, but plenty of fairly mundane things like client calls subject to a NDA.

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#59

Post by fbdab103 »

howlingfantods wrote: post #46

Guys, it’s chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wework is not going out of business. One of the top uses of chapter 11 is to renegotiate/break commercial leases. Wework is going to continue as a company though it may shut down some locations. It is absolutely going to use chapter 11 to pressure landlords to renegotiate leases.

Does WeWork still rent office space from Neumann?

Re: WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says

#60

Post by MikeTheGreat »

huehehue wrote: post #48
yelling_cat wrote: post #32

I'd used WeWork offices for solo work with no issues, so I didn't do sufficient diligence when I booked a conference room at one for a confidential client meeting. The room's walls were all clear and so thin that any conversation above a quiet murmur was easily heard from the hall outside. I asked the onsite manager for a more suitable room, but she told me they were all like that there. I ended up sticking the easel…

My experience with this extends to private offices as well. Maybe I just drew the short straw with my neighbors but, if I'm managing people, I want to give them the courtesy of a noise-free call where they don't feel like they're being spied on (or like I'm being distracted). I tried maybe 3 or 4 private office solutions during the pandemic's height, and each suffered from this. The "phone booths" are the best soluti…

Genuine question: Wouldn't this require a lot of ventilation / HVAC infrastructure?

It seems like in order to get 'really quiet' you need to have solid, noise-insulating walls on all 6 sides, which then makes it harder to ventilate (i.e., each cube gets it's own ductwork)

That said - I also like quiet spaces and if I was looking for a co-working space something that's mostly small, cozy, and quiet cubes would be perfect :)

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