Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 95 posts

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

#71

Post by blackoil »

chadash wrote: post #69

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…

The "haters" of WeWork are mostly because of them poisoning the well with a poor/corrupt implementation of the concept and cargo culting around it.

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

#72

Post by pshawcaddy »

chadash wrote: post #69

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…

Can’t they declare bankruptcy, stop paying the leases, and then back to business as usual in a few years with new cheaper leases?

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

#73

Post by vsnf »

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?

But that’s not how I want to work. I don’t want to work from home. It doesn’t matter how big my house is, I could have a mansion that would make Jay-Z envious, it still isn’t where I want to be.

WeWork allows me to choose, at least in my city, about 31 different locations. This means I can match the location to my mood or my plans for that day.

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

#74

Post by bequanna »

xyst wrote: post #23

Good. Now all of that commercial real estate can be picked up on the cheap. With the multibillion dollar initiative from the government to convert single zoned commercial space into mixed use space, this is a perfect opportunity for developers. [1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2023/10/27/...

That's not what I'm hearing.

I'm on some weekly calls with multifamily investors and there is a small group that has spent the past couple years looking into this and came to the conclusion that commercial -> residential multifamily almost never works. Even if the building was free, apparently the per unit conversion costs are higher than just constructing new multifamily.

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

#75

Post by jameslk »

legostormtroopr wrote: post #67
jameslk wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 p…

Yes, they were trying to stay afloat by throwing under the bus all the small businesses that couldn't afford to pay for office space they couldn't even go to[0]. So sorry that they used any cushion they had previously for share buybacks the year prior[1]. Commendable business practices that nobody should fault.

You've gotta admit, there's a bit of irony in making this claim while they were using Chapter 11 to to get out of their own contracts[2].

0. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coronavirus-company-u...

1. https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/IWG-PLC-32526474/...

2. https://allwork.space/2020/09/iwgs-reasoning-behind-entities...

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

#77

Post by [deleted] »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16
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…

> hope someone picks up the pieces and keeps the company going WeWork is considering filing for Chapter 11 protection. They're not going for liquidation.

[deleted]

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

#78

Post by bogomipz »

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.

The statistic for companies that successfully emerge from Chapter 11 is pretty low. It's less than 10%.[1]

[1] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4472388-what-is-chapter-11-...

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

#79

Post by dools »

chadash wrote: post #69

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…

That's what Regus does and they've been around for a long time.

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

#80

Post by pseingatl »

amluto wrote: post #66
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…

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.

The problem was that they pivoted from offering on-demand offices to long-term contracts with companies seeking serviced offices with easier exit clauses. That made it difficult for the occasional, not everyday user to secure conference rooms, offices, helicopter in, etc.
Post reply on HN