61–70 of 126 posts
The biggest non-financial red flag for me was the glass office walls. None of WeWork’s non-corporate customers are doing anything remotely sensitive or important. During a downturn, these people will decide to go back to free Starbucks to hang out.
In fairness, you can have the glass frosted
Is WeWork really gonna be continually frosting/defrosting rooms as tenants move in and out?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. This assumes that journalists are capable of spotting (and willing to) spin / bullshit in the first place.
Not sure whether trolling. There has been some very good investigative journalism done in the tech sector. Theranos/Uber/Tumblr comes to mind. Specially from media outlets outside of the SV echo chamber.
News outlets are too dependent on advertising, ratings, and public opinion now.
The post states: >"The firm will be forced to sell equity/issue debt at a price substantially lower than they had anticipated." What is this "selling debt" referred to here, is the basically a bond? Would it be a bond that's backed by equity? Something else entirely?
> What is this "selling debt" referred to here, is the basically a bond? Yes, issuing bonds or taking out a loan from a bank.
This was a really striking sentence: > We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. I personally know half a dozen former journalists that recently moved over to PR, but I hadn't realized had much of a sea change it's been over the last decade.
I guess they took their own advice and learned to code.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. This assumes that journalists are capable of spotting (and willing to) spin / bullshit in the first place.
Not sure whether trolling. There has been some very good investigative journalism done in the tech sector. Theranos/Uber/Tumblr comes to mind. Specially from media outlets outside of the SV echo chamber.
The last WeWork I went into felt super impersonal. If I was to be a solo freelancer, I’d have to work somewhere communal because I hate working at home, but WeWork doesn’t have the vibe of coworking. More like ultra-cubicles where talking to other people is even harder. Second, there is definitely a question mark on companies that have their main office at WeWork, like “this is temporary until we actually make money”…
I know they are known for hot desks and all, but that actually accounts for very little of their square footage. For a solo freelancer it is a nice to have. But have 6 people and growing, then it’s a different world. Hard to find places that aren’t WeWork. Get to 14 and growing still, and you are doing leases for expected size (say 65) and a long term lease. So you are getting much more than needed. Then you grow fas…
This is brilliant writing. Please keep it up.
I love Stratechery and had never heard of this. Definitely signing up to the mailing list. If anyone knows of any other tech/biz strategy readings like these, please share!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess they took their own advice and learned to code.
For the last time, journalists reporting on retraining programs for coal miners != journalists personally claiming learning to code solves everything. This is a dumb myth that needs to die.
A quick google search shows plenty of news outlets running articles about how you should learn to code.
It's not a dumb myth, it's dumb reporting.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What is this "selling debt" referred to here, is the basically a bond? Yes, issuing bonds or taking out a loan from a bank.
Interesting, I understand how a bond would be considered selling debt but a straight up bank loan is also considered selling debt? In the former there is something being sold by the company but in the latter its actually being something bought by the company. Are they both considered selling debt because of how the accounting is done? Or am I being too literal with interpretation? Thanks.
Most loans are then immediately resold by your bank to some other bank, unless you're at a tiny credit union it's unlikely the bank will keep that debt asset on their books.
Its a mixture of not following any financial publications, not understanding financial terms and thus the memes, seemingly no emphasis on IPO at work (this I find harder to believe, maybe the word is mentioned but its white noise if the financial literacy is really that low), and then sprinkle the “cult of CEO” where everyone pretends to be there for the vision instead of 15 months.
The margin call is going to be a rude awakening.