81–90 of 188 posts
It's very difficult to see how SoftBank breaks even on this new deal. They're investing $5bn now, with the hope that it's worth more than that when they IPO, but several things have killed that idea. Firstly, their brand is tarnished. Secondly, the growth play will be gone by the time they IPO. Thirdly, the charismatic leader is gone, so the message of "Disrupting" and "We're a tech play' is gone. They've put $5bn in…
Better article in [1]. From the unconfirmed report: - SoftBank to invest $4-5 billion - Pre-money valuation at $7.5-8 billion - SoftBank will end the deal with ~70% control of WeWork - SoftBank's Marcelo Claure to take over as chairman of We - No confirmed word on additional job cuts, asset sales, or clawbacks from Neumann [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/softbank-to-take-control-of-...
"SoftBank will pay former WeWork CEO and current non-executive chairman Adam Neumann around $200 million to leave the board of directors, give up his voting shares and support SoftBank's takeover, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation."
https://www.axios.com/adam-neumann-wework-softbank-takeover-...
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> like paying 100% commission to real estate agents. Why did they do this?
To grow faster and disrupt the market. For a while it was more than a simple commission: it was 100% of the revenue for a whole year. They were also offering one-year free rent to new customers. Source: https://outline.com/yCcgS5
If not likely to result in your real estate agents sending more things to you in the future.
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I don't see why someone with that history would necessarily do a poor job.
I think his point is an insider can't see the forest through the trees, and you need a fresh perspective to understand what's really happening. Basically that hiring an insider just perpetuates the echo chamber.
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Which is still to my point: Softbanks Vision Fund model is not proven yet. It is just as probable it is more a vehicle to find a place for Middle Eastern money to sit than a true 10x fund strategy, which is becoming more evident since they're already working on Vision Fund 2. Requiring Gitlab doesn't translate into requiring office space either.
Back of a napkin: * Growth in remote workers = 9% per year. * Percentage of remote workers who want an office = 20%. * WeWork market share = 90%. = 1.62% of all workers each year will potentially shift to WeWork.
It's very difficult to see how SoftBank breaks even on this new deal. They're investing $5bn now, with the hope that it's worth more than that when they IPO, but several things have killed that idea. Firstly, their brand is tarnished. Secondly, the growth play will be gone by the time they IPO. Thirdly, the charismatic leader is gone, so the message of "Disrupting" and "We're a tech play' is gone. They've put $5bn in…
If it turns WeWork profitable by cutting costs and implementing responsible leadership, it just keeps its share of all future profits. SoftBank wouldn't be doing this if it didn't think those profits were likely to be more than total investment so far.
In other words, WeWork got acquired instead of IPO-ing.
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What’s this in reference to?
He lost a lot in the dotcom collapse around 2000. https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/a-key-figure-in-the-...
> ... having the distinction of losing the most money in history (approximately $70bn during the dot com crash of 2000).