WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources • Hacker News Board

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#71

Post by human20190310 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:01 AM UTC

urs2102 wrote: post #4

urs2102 wrote: post #2

It's been incredible watching each part of this unfold exactly as Matt Levine called it each week prior.

Additionally, I think this is great to think about as far as the entire story of IPOing a big tech company in 2019. You start with the story the bankers sell you. They all want to tell you you're going to be bigger than you ever thought possible, because, well... those fees are awfully nice. "We're going to IPO you at 20% of $PREVIOUS_VALUATION" The counter-argument was, well, "We don't think you're worth that much,…

> you're probably worth only $20B

This is something I don't get. Pretty much all of these businesses are aiming at dominance on some sector. They entered into the game with the understanding that it's all or nothing.

If they don't achieve that dominance, or if the sector itself turns out to be less than worthwhile, isn't it more likely that these companies are worth essentially zero, rather than some percentage of their target value?

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#72

Post by dangxiaopin » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:02 AM UTC

mmaunder wrote: post #67

dangxiaopin wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pinterest is next https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...

That actually looks catastrophic. Stock price doesn't reflect it yet. Shadenfreude isnt my thing but this looks bad and insiders must already be aware.

>insiders must already be aware

The lockup period does not expire till mid-october.

I read their 10-Q and found this gem about "user re-authentication":

"Users

MAUs at quarter-end were 300 million, representing growth of 30% year-over-year. This represents an acceleration in user growth, in part due to one-time changes to SEO algorithms and user re-authentication that impacted Q218. International growth drove the majority of global MAU expansion."

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#73

Post by TylerE » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:03 AM UTC

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #68

abvdasker wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually still use Blue Apron. It's not that much more expensive than grocery shopping (I live in New York so groceries are expensive) and you never end up with wasted food. The recipes are generally very quick to make and far better than anything I could make on my own in a comparable amount of time. While the business may not have worked out so well their service is still pretty good.

Glad you like it and hope the price continues to be reasonable as they continue to cut expenses while trying to maintain food quality :) For me I eat a very peculiar diet so I usually just pick up yogurt and fresh bread from the grocery store on my way home from work, and when I'm feeling particularly lazy I will order steamed chicken and steamed broccoli from the local Chinese shop who really have this amazing techn…

Sometimes I feel for a company like that that at least 60% of their spend is on podcast advertising.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#74

Post by mmaunder » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:03 AM UTC

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #69

mmaunder wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That actually looks catastrophic. Stock price doesn't reflect it yet. Shadenfreude isnt my thing but this looks bad and insiders must already be aware.

Can't believe the market is currently valuing Pinterest at 16B

Guess these guys didnt get the memo.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/seekingalpha.com/amp/article/42...

To be clear, I dont trade stocks and couldn't care less which way this moves. Just seems like the Google trends data is a bit of information asymmetry that the market hasn't caught on to, yet.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#75

Post by brennebeck » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:04 AM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #34

autokad wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble" Its not the media, I think its just true. Had WeWork IPO'ed under the same conditions a year ago, I think it would have been 'fine'. but the glut of SV unicorns losing money, hating investors, and slowing growth has got people highly concerned. This list of companies (slack, lyft, Uber, Pinterest, beyond meat, crowdstrike, tesla, spo…

Maybe you need to flip that envelope around because I don't know how you get that much negative revenue.

Not to be flip, but pretty sure the gp is referring to losses, I.e. burning vc money and not earning enough revenue to break even.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#76

Post by mmaunder » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:08 AM UTC

dangxiaopin wrote: post #72

mmaunder wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That actually looks catastrophic. Stock price doesn't reflect it yet. Shadenfreude isnt my thing but this looks bad and insiders must already be aware.

>insiders must already be aware The lockup period does not expire till mid-october. I read their 10-Q and found this gem about "user re-authentication": "Users MAUs at quarter-end were 300 million, representing growth of 30% year-over-year. This represents an acceleration in user growth, in part due to one-time changes to SEO algorithms and user re-authentication that impacted Q218. International growth drove the maj…

I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. Wtf does "user re-authentication" mean?

They're counting MAUs as number of logins and not number of active users?

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#77

Post by victor106 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:08 AM UTC

> The WeWork brand is strongly tied to Neumann, a freewheeling 40-year-old Israeli-born entrepreneur who has said that We Company’s mission is “to elevate the world’s consciousness”.

"Elevate the world's consciousness" --> Dont mean to be negative but what the hell does that even mean? Imagine your landlord told you that.

Been following this story closely and Adam Neumann is such a crook, from the outset he just wanted to take advantage of public shareholders. His intentions were to screw them. Don't forget that lot of the shareholders for big IPO's are pension and mutual funds and hard working middle class families indirectly or directly own a bulk of these. This is how they get screwed.

I am so glad the market called his bluff.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#78

Post by jchallis » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:08 AM UTC

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #57

dangxiaopin wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pinterest is next https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...

Wow, interesting, that map is really correlated with my (biased) perception of where "percentage of people under 40 who are married" is highest

Idaho’s killer app

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#79

Post by ping_pong » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:12 AM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #23

As someone living in SF, I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company in the same way that Uber or Twitter or Slack is. The company has 0 tech brand among employees (how many ex-FB or ex-Google engineers work there?) and outside of Benchmark’s early round none of the VCs are SV-based. Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble but p…

I have a friend who joined there last year. He said that the interview process wasn't very hard and they focused on communication. He also said that the engineers there aren't impressive but he likes his coworkers and the job is okay, but the tech definitely isn't impressive at all.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#80

Post by dangxiaopin » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 4:12 AM UTC

mmaunder wrote: post #74

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't believe the market is currently valuing Pinterest at 16B

Guess these guys didnt get the memo. https://www.google.com/amp/s/seekingalpha.com/amp/article/42... To be clear, I dont trade stocks and couldn't care less which way this moves. Just seems like the Google trends data is a bit of information asymmetry that the market hasn't caught on to, yet.

From the article you quoted (call me cynical):

"Disclosure: I am/we are long PINS. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha)"