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https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework-gets-less-money-shorter-name https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework... "In a
by kgwgk 8y ago
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework-gets-less-money-shorter-name https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework...
"In addition to the corporate finance weirdness: “Going forward, the company will no longer be called WeWork but rather The We Company.” (“The switch is not a legal name change,” okay.) And: “Rather than just renting desks, the company aims to encompass all aspects of people’s lives, in both physical and digital worlds,” which is—and I have spent years writing about the financial and tech industries and do not say this lightly—the very worst corporate slogan I have ever heard.
Me: What does your company do?
We: We encompass all aspects of your life, in both physical and digital worlds.
Me: Wait that’s terrifying.
We: We’re like Facebook, only you also live here.
Me: Who did you say you are again?
We: We are We.
The new company will be divided into several main business units: WeWork, WeLive, WeGrow, WeHarvest and WeFeast, wait no only the first three of those are real, but I am looking forward to when they start a line of industrial-chic funeral homes, WeDie. (Free beer at the wake!) Seriously WeGrow (real!) is “a still evolving business that currently includes an elementary school and a coding academy.” And WeWhatever’s founders once (in 2009!) “mapped out plans for everything from WeSleep to WeSail to WeBank.” I can’t keep up with this."
- ritchiea 8y agoYea it sounds like the kind of corporate slogan you come up with when you have to prove you're not just a real estate company and that your company has exponential growth potential rather than a slogan expressing something anyone wants.
- travisjungroth 8y ago"We rent out office spaces and amenities like big successful startups to anyone." Says what they do and hints at why people want it. And it will never, ever be their mission for the reasons you said.
- mi100hael 8y agoWhen life imitates art: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)
- sudosteph 8y agoIn case anyone is wondering: not worth the read unless you're just interested in the history of dystopic fiction. The characters are boring and everything drags on far too long.
- sixstringtheory 8y agoI’ll agree it can get boring at times, but it was incredibly creative and a lot of the descriptions of the world in the book are unlike any other I’ve read about and were quite poetic, while at the same time mathematic and scientific. Still, it’s a pretty short read and should be of much interest to those into scifi and dystopias.
- dpau 8y agoI agree, incredibly creative. Definitely worth the read for anyone who enjoyed 1984, Brave New World, etc. I don’t recall it being boring in the least, perhaps the translation is partly to blame.
- sudosteph 8y agoIt wasn't the translation, I just hated all of the characters - especially the protaganist and his faux-philosophical rants about his hatred the square root of negative one. The world that that the author built was actually interesting, and if that's the only thing a reader cares about, then I can see the appeal. But the storytelling as a whole just sank the whole thing for me. And this coming is from someone who loved 1984 and Brave New World and was eagerly looking forward to reading "We" at one point.
- sudosteph 8y agoPerhaps our interpretations of those descriptions where our disagreement lies then. I found the protaganist's obsession with romanticizing everything in terms of math to be incredibly repetitive and even cringeworthy at times (the imaginary number thing especially). It's not that I think loving math in a poetic way is not possible, but the protagonist's manner of thinking about it just made no sense, and it was sprinkled through everything in a way that added little value and distracted from the meat of the story. I suppose that may be what the author intended, but it was not enjoyable to read or poetic in my view. I also judge it harshly for the way the author wrote the only female character as an obvious object of wish-fulfillment rather than a coherent individual with reasonable motivations. I do indeed give it credit for being an early scifi dystopia, but every other dystopia I've read was far better, and I can't help but feel that "Brave New World" surpassed "We" in every possible way. Still not recommending this book to anyone who doesn't just want to learn about dystopic novels.
- malux85 8y agoWe(are the)Borg Lower your firewall and surrender your data. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile
- rajacombinator 8y agoWeDie with free beer/kombucha/whatever sounds pretty amazing tbh. Funeral home industry could benefit from some disruption.
- rglover 8y ago> We're disrupting funeral homes. Man, that sounds...horrible.
- mcmoose75 8y agoDoes it really? I can imagine there's room for innovation in helping people to honor and grieve the passing of their loved ones.
- pkaye 8y agoThe innovation would be to not demand obscene prices from the loved ones at their time of grieving.
- fhbdukfrh 8y agoThis isn't necessarily the fault of the funeral home. It's a much the traditional and society pressure that says this is what you do when you die. Aside: How come airlines give you a bereavement discount while a caterer doesn't? Nothing stopping your family from a simple cremation and open tab at your favorite social spot for a couple of hours of celebration Or a picnic... Or a concert with your favorite local bands ... Or a bike/hike into the mountains to scatter your ashes... Etc. The point is you don't have to have a funeral service followed by internment in the ground. We've just been trained this is "the right thing to do". My dad always (only half joking) says his dying wish is to have the last cheque he writes bounce.
- pkaye 8y agoThe funeral home can certainly be at fault. They try to upsell the options like a car salesman. They should just provide a list of options and let the family decide.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- village-idiot 8y agoWeWork is a cult. I find the way that they attempt to control their employee’s lives deeply alarming. Don’t want to take my word for it? Go read some reviews on Glassdoor.
- alangibson 8y agoI heard they're changing their name to WorryFree. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorry_to_Bother_You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorry_to_Bother_You
- stevofolife 8y agoWait but what about WeChat?
- genericone 8y agoMaybe they are setting themselves up for the eventual company buyout from WeChat?
- kochikame 8y agoWeWeChat It's basically a Weception at this point
- clamprecht 8y agoEventually it may be, "we broke."
- EliRivers 8y agoa still evolving business that currently includes an elementary school and a coding academy. Education is like catnip to these people. It's like some kind of attractor industry. They're all convinced they have the magic formula.
- vkou 8y agoThat's because everyone has an opinion, and everyone's[1] gone to at least elementary school. If I were made king of the world, I'd have a lot of ideas about how to reform education (after I'd take some time to throw sand in Billy's face, as payback for three years of playground bullying.) [1] Just about everyone, at least.
- toddmorey 8y agoTo be fair, education in the US is very broken.
- avip 8y agoYet if you look at places where education seems less broken, it has nothing to do with tech or startups. Quite the opposite.
- pjc50 8y agoIt remains unlooted so far. It needs a layer of opaque billing, routinely bankrupting its customers, and profit extraction to match the healthcare industry.
- PhantomGremlin 8y agoIt remains unlooted so far. On the contrary, public employee unions (including teachers) have done a masterful job of enriching themselves at public expense. E.g. Oregon: Member accounts saw appreciable and consistent growth during this time, but underlying pension assets did not grow to cover the increased benefit guarantee. Career public employees who worked from 1970 to 2000 often were entitled to retirement income replacement rates over 130% of their pre-retirement earnings.[1] Show me private sector pensions (if you can still find any) that come close to that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Public_Employees_Retirement_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Public_Employees_Retire...
- gojomo 8y agoWe: Also, We won't let We eat meat. (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-13/wework-tells-employees-meat-is-permanently-off-the-company-menu https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-13/wework-te...) Me: But I like meat! We: Not if you want to be We, you don't. Are you sure you're We material?
- mmmmmmmmm 8y agoBanning meat is highly offensive to the vast majority of Americans. These people just don't have good business sense; I'm surprised they're getting any investment at all.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoSeriously, the day my employer bans meat is the day I walk out, right after ordering a side of beef delivered to the CEOs office.
- ajaxaddicted 8y agoAka, the company wants to take a moral stand for once and I am going to retailate with an immoral posturing and kill some innocent animals and shove my immoral views in their face, before i leave.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoThis is not a moral stand, it is an ideological stand. A moral stand is “We won’t serve meat that is not processed in a humane manner”. We’s stand is the same thing as saying ”Only Christian idolatry may be practiced in our offices”.
- ajaxaddicted 8y ago"Meat processed in a humane way" - there is no such thing. "Humane meat" is an oxymorone. 1) What is the definition of humane 2) Whatever that definition is, i really doubt it includes killing a sentient being that does not want to die. Also moral stand is - an injustice is happening and you refuse to support it- in this case innocent animals are killed, the environment is trashed for future generations. etc. Ideological stand - I personally belief in A and B. An Ideological stand or belief is by definition subjective. A moral stand - there is a victim involved.
- bobthepanda 8y agoAh, the Nintendo strategy. Why anyone at Nintendo thought that the Wii U was a good name for a completely new console is beyond me.
- tejon 8y agoAs someone who didn't own a TV, thus any consoles: the Switch was out before I learned the Wii U wasn't just an accessory for the Wii.
- komali2 8y agoThere's some systematic issue with naming that has existed at Nintendo since the 90s. Thinking: Nintendo entertainment system and super Nintendo entertainment system. Not necessarily bad, but also kinda "meh." Probably the best 90s explanation for what a "console" is, before everyone already knows what a console is. I bring it up because here begins Nintendo's critical error: failing to understand the customer in America isn't children, it is their parents and grandparents, who have no fucking clue what the difference is between "the Nintendo" and "the super Nintendo." I remember peripherals were a nightmare already. Also: consider the competition. Sega Genesis. Badass. Gameboy: what the fuck does this even mean. And thus: Gameboy color. Advance. Sp (what?????). Mini? DS is even worse. Dual screen, maybe. And then, DS but smaller. DSi, also some games for this aren't compatible with DS regular. 3ds. 3ds xl (not too bad). "New 3ds," good luck grabbing the right one at GameStop. Wii vs Wii U is just a crime. What does the "u" even mean??? How do you communicate across parental units the intended Christmas purchase? "Sally wants what? We? We want to what? We you? Honey what are you saying? She wants the Nintendo we with you? With enhanced we motes?" The switch, I argue, is the only time Nintendo has applied a sensible name.
- CM30 8y agoThere's also the 2DS, and the 2DS XL. Oh, and the New Nintendo 3DS XL. They all play the same games though, so yeah, good luck explaining which is which to a casual buyer. The very 2DS name sounds like it should be a weaker system than the 3DS, despite coming out later and being mostly the same bar the stereostopic 3D visuals. Names certainly haven't been their strong suit.
- detcader 8y agoDid Google not do something similar?
- nostromo 8y agoWhen you have Google’s track record you can get away with things We can’t.
- canadaduane 8y agoI think they used to call this "a church".
- digitalzombie 8y agoWeHarvest what is their product? Soylent green?
- avip 8y agoWe is an SV generated dream workspace built... to change a human being into this.
- bartread 8y ago"The We Company": somebody didn't check what that sounds like when spoken in British English. Wait, what? A company that manufactures and or sells wee?!?? (Pee, to our American friends.) It's not as extreme as powergenitalia or expertsexchange but still something of a facepalm.
- happycube 8y agoNintendo got away with it...
- JohnFen 8y ago> Pee, to our American friends "Wee" also means "pee" in the US, as well as meaning "small".
- barbecue_sauce 8y agoOnly in the context of being a Britishism that Americans occasionally use.
- Dylan16807 8y ago> Only Nope. Never in my life heard of it being a britishism. Edit: A downvote for proving an absolute statement wrong? "Bloody" is used as a britishism. "Wee" is not, at least in many areas.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- john_moscow 8y agoOne opinion about the unrealistically high valuations of companies like WeWork, Uber, etc is that Saudis like to feel that they are buying control over Americans' lives. Pure vanity, not much long-term planning, IMO. The whole "We Company" stunt looks like a desperate attempt to highlight this property in the face of a disappointed would-be buyer.
- rhizome 8y agoPeople interested in commercial real estate are starting to warm up their checkbooks.
- fxfan 8y agoLook I'm as far from politics as I cam but Citibank (big share by Saudis) decided Obama's foreign ambassadors. They also managed to run away after 9/11 (bush) and to get Obama to veto the bill allowing them to be sued. So they control both parties
- PhantomGremlin 8y agoThey also managed to run away after 9/11 They're still running away, but we want their dollars so we keep allowing this behavior: Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is asking the Trump Administration for answers about whether the Saudi government helped a Saudi national flee the U.S. after he was accused of killing an Oregon teenager. http://time.com/5490263/ron-wyden-saudi-arabia-suspect-flee/ http://time.com/5490263/ron-wyden-saudi-arabia-suspect-flee/
- EthanHeilman 8y agoThe dystopian novel "We" tells the story of a society which encompass all aspects of your life, in both physical and mental worlds. >"We is set in the future. D-503, a spacecraft engineer, lives in the One State, an urban nation constructed almost entirely of glass, which assists mass surveillance. The structure of the state is Panopticon-like, and life is scientifically managed F. W. Taylor-style." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel) I'm not sure why they would invite the comparison in both mission and name,
- azernik 8y agoI mean, "Soylent"?
- na85 8y agoThe dystopia we inhabit is different than the one that produced Soylent Green, to the point that the comparison is humorous and edgy. The same cannot be said for We.
- lainga 8y agoEverything in We was made of glass, even the buildings, so everyone could see everyone else at all times. It was sort of like one giant coworking space.
- EthanHeilman 8y agoI went looking for a good quote from "We" to capture that, but I didn't manage to find a chunk of text that was self-contained enough. "If you want a picture of the future imagine a human trapped in a glass co-working space -forever" - George Orwell ...probably
- sbensu 8y agoWow, I thought you were making that up to fit the mood... until the Wikipedia article. This is bananas.
- daniel_iversen 8y agoWish I could triple upvote this comment, you’re hillarious and it made my morning! :-)
- chiefalchemist 8y agoMakes me want to say: "We have met the enemy and he is We."
- miketery 8y agoThis is funny: "The valuation of the round was still being agreed between the two sides, with one person saying that it would be split with $1bn at the existing $20bn level and the remaining cash at the $42bn valuation from the previously announced fundraising." So, $2bn at a $31bn valuation is what is being done.
- buboard 8y agoLiving-as-a-service may actually be a valuable proposition in a root-less world. If this proves successful , and it spurs competition, soon we 'll end up with competing private cities.
- ajdegol 8y agoWeWee - toilet services.
- profalseidol 8y agoI've heard there are companies that you can pay to visit your parents in the Retirement homes. The moment we stopped working at the fields was the moment we had to stop the profit business. We should instead put in efforts into projects like CERN or anything that actually helps us improve the lives for as many as possible.
- neuronic 8y ago> WeDie I wonder when craft-dying becomes popular.