Discussion

• @shiraovide Shira Ovide on x

  Dear. Lord. WeWork “delayed the layoffs earlier this month because it couldn't afford the severance costs.” How did this board let it get so bad? You can ditch the CEO, but where is EVERYONE ELSE? https://www.wsj.com/...

• @johnjcook John Cook on x

  it's weird that hundreds of extremely high-priced lawyers and bankers whose purported integrity undergirds the global financial system can conspire to convince investors that a company is worth $40 billion when it actually is worth maybe a tenth of that and no laws are broken?

• @mattdpearce @mattdpearce on x

  I am not entirely sure why Adam Neumann is not currently surrounded by a mob with torches and pitchforks. https://twitter.com/...

• @nesrinemalik Nesrine Malik on x

  WeWork story has everything. Icarus over extension, dumb sovereign money, a messianic founder, and ultimately and as usual, the crushing of a large number of little people https://twitter.com/...

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  I've read almost every book on startups, and somehow have just completely missed the chapters that covered this part of the strategy. https://twitter.com/...

• @shiraovide Shira Ovide on x

  They need rescue financing, in part, TO FIRE MANY PEOPLE. I just have no words. https://twitter.com/...

• @cnbcnow @cnbcnow on x

  WeWork's Adam Neumann set to receive a $1.7 billion deal to step down from its board, which will include a $185M “consulting fee” from SoftBank and $500M of credit from the investor - WSJ https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @triketora @triketora on x

  jpmorgan assembling a $5b rescue package for wework that values it at under $8b... that's a pretty far cry from $47b (or what goldman was pitching at $90b+!!). do they think we are all stupid or what https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @tomgara Tom Gara on x

  On the purely amoral metric of extracting money from rich people who aren't as smart as him, Adam Neumann really is an extraordinary success story. https://twitter.com/...

• @shiraovide Shira Ovide on x

  So, Neumann probably needs a $200 million “consulting fee” because he borrowed a pile of money against his WeWork stock to buy a string of homes and live like a king. He needs to repay those loans, and his stock is worth garbage, so...consulting fee! https://www.wsj.com/...

• @shiraovide Shira Ovide on x

  Important question: How is this tender offer structured? Because if SoftBank is bailing out other existing WeWork investors and executives who are responsible for breaking this company...{speechless} https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @athertonkd Kelsey D. Nuclear Aftermatherton on x

  A payout equal to 2.2 F-35As to stop running a bad company poorly is a hell of a grift https://jscalc.io/... https://twitter.com/...

• @_jon_green Jon Green on x

  struggling to comprehend how much money you have to lose and how quickly you have to lose it in order to get paid $200 million to stop https://twitter.com/...

• @can @can on x

  I know some people, primarily the employees, got screwed but all I am saying is if you joined a SoftBank funded company, you already threw caution into the wind.

• @veryimportant Patrick Cosmos on x

  i love to spend $10B on a company i value at $8B specifically so the company has enough money to fire people, in a normal economy with normal incentives that aren't even perverse https://twitter.com/...

• @samantar Sam E. Antar on x

  The dumbest corporate takeover since the Oppenheimer-Palmieri Group and Entertainment Marketing took over Crazy Eddie in a hostile proxy battle thinking it was a golden goose, when it was a massive fraud. $WE #WEWORK https://twitter.com/...

• @pineconemacro @pineconemacro on x

  Can we 100% wealth tax this dude and this dude only https://twitter.com/...

• @axios @axios on x

  NEW: SoftBank is set to take control of WeWork in a deal that slashes the co-working company's valuation from $48 billion to around $8 billion, CNBC reports https://www.axios.com/...

• @lauraklein Laura Klein on x

  I am both happy and sad that I've never been bad enough at anything to have somebody pay me $200m to leave... https://twitter.com/...

• @jmackin2 James Mackintosh on x

  WeWork's Valuation Falls to $8 Billion Under SoftBank Rescue Offer https://www.wsj.com/... +"WeWork also is planning to cut thousands of employees, but delayed the layoffs earlier this month because it couldn't afford the severance costs, people familiar with the matter said"

• @gerberkawasaki Ross Gerber on x

  From $48 bil to $8 bil. Just in case you're thinking about buying a VC IPO scam stock. Let this be a lesson. Great to see SoftBank falling on its sword instead of killing public investors. #WeWork is clearly a scam stock. https://twitter.com/...

• @adequate_scott @adequate_scott on x

  The goal of every Capitalist is to reach the point where there is no penalty for failure. Congrats to Adam https://twitter.com/...

• @kateclarktweets Kate Clark on x

  It continues. SoftBank is now offering Adam Neumann $200M to leave its board of directors, give up his voting shares and support SoftBank's takeover: https://www.axios.com/...

• @vermontgmg Garrett M. Graff on x

  Wow. Has any unicorn company unraveled so quickly? https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  With Neumann's earlier share sales, accepting this deal would take him very close to being a billionaire, which lol https://twitter.com/...

• @cubiclewarrior_ Cube Warrior on x

  “Can't afford layoffs because you can't afford severance” I have to admit, I have never even thought of this problem. How....how the hell does it get to that point? https://twitter.com/...

• @can @can on x

  If Adam Neumann gets away with essentially embezzling SoftBank out of a billion dollars, should we congratulate or vilify him? It's a tough call really.

• @mattdpearce @mattdpearce on x

  So what's the financial calculus, here? Is WeWork more worried about liability from lawsuits from former employees if it can't offer them severance in exchange for a release of claims? https://twitter.com/...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  Scoop: SoftBank offers Adam Neumann $200 million to leave WeWork board, vote for its deal. (well, technically to buy his voting shares) https://www.axios.com/...

• @mollywood Molly Wood on x

  This has to be a land-speed record for death-spiral progression. #🍌👖 https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  everyone involved in managing this company and it's executives should be embarrassed to their core https://twitter.com/...

• @zeynep Zeynep Tufekci on x

  $1.7 BILlON to ONE GUY for failing spectacularly in a country where people are rationing their insulin and six-year olds are being publicly shamed for school lunch debt. If people can look away from Trump for just one second, they'd see he's just one symptom of a crumbling order.…

• @panzer Matthew Panzarino on x

  I'll do it for half off https://twitter.com/...

• @bypatrickgeorge Patrick George on x

  I would also like $200 million to fail miserably at a real estate scam. Let's motherfucking go https://twitter.com/...

• @jbarro Josh Barro on x

  I'm confused. If the SoftBank package for WeWork includes “a $3 billion tender offer to employees at $20 a share” how does that inject money into the company? If you buy the shares from existing shareholders, the money doesn't go to the company. https://www.axios.com/...

• @eparillon @eparillon on x

  I will accept a mere $100MM to not be on WeWork's board, DMs are open https://twitter.com/...

• @zandywithaz Haunted Dog on x

  I want to be a tech guru failure too! https://twitter.com/...

• @libbycwatson @libbycwatson on x

  why is a company that cant afford to lay off its staff still valued at $8 billion https://twitter.com/...

• @lizrhoffman Liz Hoffman on x

  Breaking on @WSJ: *Deadline tonight for WeWork rescue bids *SoftBank offering $5bn loan, $1.5bn equity, $1bn to buy out existing investors & employees *SoftBank exec Marcelo Claure would replace Adam Neumann as chairman *JPM working on alternate package *Deal values We ~$8bn

• @jpeggers JP Eggers on x

  It is almost like no one has heard of the sunk cost fallacy https://twitter.com/...

• @ruskin147 Rory Cellan-Jones on x

  SoftBank will have invested a total of c$15billion in a business now valued at around half that. Pretty disastrous https://twitter.com/...

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  Claure is Sprint's current executive chairman and former CEO. If he's good enough for Softbank to swoop him in to rescue WeWork, why can't he rescue Sprint instead of selling the thing to T-Mobile? https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @edbott Ed Bott on x

  More like WHEEEEEEEEEEEWork, am I right? https://twitter.com/...

• @shiraovide Shira Ovide on x

  Just so it's clear, this means a company apparently desperately in need of cash will not get all of this SoftBank cash. Presumably Neumann gets bought out, at least in part? Or existing investors? https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @schuldensuehner Holger Zschaepitz on x

  SoftBank to take control of WeWork, spending $4-$5bn on new equity and existing shares in the We Company, sources tell @CNBC. The deal values We Co. between $7.5-$8bn and could be announced as soon as tomorrow. https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @shiraovide Shira Ovide on x

  This makes perfect sense under the “You break it; You buy it” retail store model. https://twitter.com/...

• @lisaabramowicz1 Lisa Abramowicz on x

  How to lose 83% of your worth in nine months: https://www.bloomberg.com/...