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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

#61

Post by yelling_cat »

mavelikara wrote: post #43
jrflowers wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like this question. Why would a person stop paying for something that doesn’t fully suit their basic needs? Obviously if a configuration that worked didn’t exist at WeWork, surely it couldn’t exist anywhere at all?

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…

Only your coworkers can see what you're up to in a glass meeting room at your company office, though.

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

#62

Post by aurareturn »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #37
api_or_ipa wrote: post #6

Pretty sad. I hope someone picks up the pieces and keeps the company going. Say what you will about the company and it's leadership, but WeWork as a service was splendid. Yes, there's lots of other short-term office providers, but I never found a competitor that executed on the vision of a world-wide lattice of places from which to work. Having a place to work vastly opened up my vacation cycles. Instead of travellin…

Unless you're willing to pay a ridiculously high premium for this, the benefits WeWork's provided you still doesn't work as a business model.

That's right. A friend of mine sells premium offices and he's been saying WeWork's business plan made no sense at all for as long as I can remember.

Basically, in any premium office, you want to maximize the space for as many high value desks as possible. WeWork often spends a huge part of its space for perks and temp desks. In addition, WeWork attracts the startups/small business/solo crowd and those are far less stable customers than your money making enterprises. He routinely tells me very large customers often forgets that they're even paying for the office. That's the customer you want.

He was sure that WeWork had no future. He was right.

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

#64

Post by criddell »

api_or_ipa wrote: post #6

Pretty sad. I hope someone picks up the pieces and keeps the company going. Say what you will about the company and it's leadership, but WeWork as a service was splendid. Yes, there's lots of other short-term office providers, but I never found a competitor that executed on the vision of a world-wide lattice of places from which to work. Having a place to work vastly opened up my vacation cycles. Instead of travellin…

Was working remotely like that difficult from a tax perspective? I know a lot of places will require you to file even if you are only working there a single day.

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

#65

Post by sgjohnson »

paulcole wrote: post #39
EGreg wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about from home?

I go to WeWork because I intentionally rent as small an apartment as possible. I don’t like being in the same space all the time and I don’t like working from coffeeshops (most of my work is meetings and requires a bit of privacy). I’d be more likely to find an in office job than work out of my apartment again.

Have you considered getting a bigger apartment with a dedicated room for your office?

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

#66

Post by amluto »

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…

I realize it’s legacy and not cool any more, but Regus has had a perfectly fine facility in Palo Alto with perfectly nice rooms for conferences and individual or small group work for considerably longer than WeWork has existed.

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

#67

Post by legostormtroopr »

jameslk wrote: post #35
er4hn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regus / Spaces (the "hipper" version of Regus, same parent company) existed long before WeWork. They're not as nice because they're run as an actual business but they do exist around the world and are perfectly fine places to get work done.

I had the pleasure of dealing with Regus / Spaces trying to enforce their contract and collect payment for office rent even though I couldn't go to their offices due to COVID and lockdowns (this was during the peak of it in April of 2020). I have to disagree that this company is perfectly fine to do business with, after so many calls and emails with them over this absurd matter and their egregious business practices…

Pretty hard to fault a company for trying to enforce contracts, especially in response to factors like COVID that are outside their control. It sucks, but if you sign a contract for a period of time for a specific service, outside factors that limit your ability to use the service are not their problem from a business perspective.

If they allowed everyone to break contracts because government restrictions prevented people from going in, they would have completely closed. If anyone I would be angry at the government for not supporting you.

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

#68

Post by legostormtroopr »

sgjohnson wrote: post #65
paulcole wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to WeWork because I intentionally rent as small an apartment as possible. I don’t like being in the same space all the time and I don’t like working from coffeeshops (most of my work is meetings and requires a bit of privacy). I’d be more likely to find an in office job than work out of my apartment again.

Have you considered getting a bigger apartment with a dedicated room for your office?

So outsource the cost of employment from the employer to employee?

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

#69

Post by chadash »

Judging by the number of coworking spaces near me, many of which seem to be pretty full, I'd be surprised if the business model is the issue. It seems like WeWork just got stuck paying long term leases originated in 2010-2020 but is now operating in a new world where commercial real estate is much less valuable.

I know WeWork has plenty of haters, but the idea of an international chain of coworking spaces makes a lot of sense. Where I live, I see lots of major companies opening up small satellite offices in WeWorks. I assume that they work out large deals for a bunch of small spaces around the county (or world) and that's preferable to negotiating with lots of separate locally owned coworking spaces. Meanwhile, if you are a fortune 500 and want to open a small office in Houston or Dublin, you don't need to sign a long-term lease and you can scale up or down as needed. That seems like something that'd be worth paying a premium for.

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

#70

Post by paulcole »

sgjohnson wrote: post #65
paulcole wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to WeWork because I intentionally rent as small an apartment as possible. I don’t like being in the same space all the time and I don’t like working from coffeeshops (most of my work is meetings and requires a bit of privacy). I’d be more likely to find an in office job than work out of my apartment again.

Have you considered getting a bigger apartment with a dedicated room for your office?

Fuck no. Why would I want that?
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