8 ms·

It's not a tech company, it's a property company with the valuation of a tech company.

by doppp 7y ago

lotsofpulp 7y ago
Is it? I was under the impression it does not own land for the most part.
- CrazyStat 7y ago
  It's a mix. Some locations they own, some they lease--including some that the CEO owns and they lease from him, which is an interesting arrangement.
  - vorpalhex 7y ago
    A school I attended once had a similar arrangement with one of its board members. I also vaguely recall that board member defrauding the school of several million dollars and being federally charged...
    - gamblor956 7y ago
      It's different for a school though because there are regulations on related party transactions for nonprofits.
  - ohashi 7y ago
    How is that going to fly with a public company?
    - bradstewart 7y ago
      As long as the lease rates are inline with the market rates, shouldn't be an issue.
    - elliekelly 7y ago
      Page 28 discusses it. They have an interesting approach to managing the conflict: > Pursuant to our related party transactions policy, all additional material related party transactions that we enter into require either (i) the unanimous consent of our audit committee or (ii) the approval of a majority of the members of our board of directors. I was pretty impressed when I read "unanimous consent of our audit committee" but then it all went out the window when I saw or the majority of the Board. The company CEO/landlord is the person with the major conflict of interest. He also has the majority voting power of the company stock and will control the board. WeWork's attempt to mitigate this conflict of interest is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
      - ohashi 7y ago
        That board position is the key problem. The conflict of interest isn't addressed at all.
  - eugene2012 7y ago
    Under "Properties Leased to The We Company," this is very interesting: "As of June 30, 2019, future undiscounted minimum lease payments under these leases were approximately $236.6 million, which represents 0.5% of the Company’s total lease commitments as of June 30, 2019."
  - uxp 7y ago
    > including some that the CEO owns and they lease from him Did you see the part of the filing where, in case of death or incapacitation in the next ten years where the CEO is unable to fulfill his duties, a group of two board members _and_ his wife will select the next CEO, and if those named board members are also not available anymore then his wife will solely pick the two board members who will pick the next CEO with her, and if _she_ is unavailable then the estate of the CEO and his wife will pick the next CEO? Page 198 I've never seen a company like this transfer to successive control via the private estate of the CEO in case of a vacancy. There's a lot of WTFs in here.
bko 7y ago
They're trying to sell it as tech > We have approximately 1,000 engineers, product designers and machine learning scientists that are dedicated to building, integrating and automating the complex systems we use to operate our business
- mrcu5 7y ago
  To do what? I'm not too familiar with them but what more do they have other than a website to look at potential spaces with some photos and a description and sign up for one? Maybe process payments as well?
  - nabnob 7y ago
    I'll see if I can dig up the article, but I think they're planning on tracking everything that workers do in their buildings and giving that data to employers. Edit - found this - https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-new-strategy-it-just-might-signal-end-of-workplace-as-we-know-it.html https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-ne... >WeWork's latest acquisition is a small software company with 24 employees. Euclid is a spatial analytics platform...Euclid's website says the company is "focused on redefining the workplace experience of the future." Translation: optimizing every aspect of the physical workplace so workers are their most productive. Euclid does this by tracking how people move around physical spaces. Its technology can track how many people showed up to a meeting or to that after-work happy hour. The company can see where employees tend to congregate and for how long. It's all done over Wi-Fi.
    - DebtDeflation 7y ago
      There are a couple of issues with this. It's a well-known effect in management theory that workers behave differently when they know they're being observed. Also, presumably most of their tenants employ knowledge workers not factory floor workers, and so data about how often they go to the bathroom or how many steps they take in an hour is probably a lot less relevant than tracking what they're doing on their computers.
nabnob 7y ago
It's a property company that's planning tracking everything people do in their buildings. >WeWork's latest acquisition is a small software company with 24 employees. Euclid is a spatial analytics platform...Euclid's website says the company is "focused on redefining the workplace experience of the future." Translation: optimizing every aspect of the physical workplace so workers are their most productive. Euclid does this by tracking how people move around physical spaces. Its technology can track how many people showed up to a meeting or to that after-work happy hour. The company can see where employees tend to congregate and for how long. It's all done over Wi-Fi. Edit - forgot to link the article - https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-new-strategy-it-just-might-signal-end-of-workplace-as-we-know-it.html https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-ne...
- wpietri 7y ago
  Yeah, I don't see that providing the outsized gains they're hoping for. I've talked to a number of entrepreneurs who business plan is basically 1. Collect data 2. ??? 3. Profit And every time I quiz them on point 2, they get squirrely. They can never explain exactly how it works; at best I get hazy references to Google making lots from data, which is at best a partial truth. In this case, I doubt having that data will do much; humans are already natural optimizers. Really, the things workplaces should be optimized for are unlikely to be easily measurable, so at best these systems will optimize for the wrong thing. And really, the reason workplaces aren't particularly optimal now is that most decisions are made not for maximizing business value, but for maximizing the power and comfort of those high up. As an example, when businesses relocate their headquarters, it is generally to move closer to the CEO's home. Or we can look at all the decisions made to optimize a visible metric, like cost, to the harm of invisible ones. E.g., the open office plan, which is cheap and lets managers supervise by looking out their office window, but significantly harms productivity and employee happiness.
  - wickedsight 7y ago
    > And every time I quiz them on point 2, they get squirrely. Well, sure, but all they're being told is that data is the new gold. [0] And gold is valuable, so data must also be valuable. They tend to forget that not all data is gold, because 'some data is gold' isn't what they were told and also isn't fun. 0: https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/data-analytics/articles/the-new-gold.html https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/data-analytics/article...
KaiserPro 7y ago
Its a property management company. They own some leases, but not actual buildings.

It's not a tech company, it's a property company with the valuation of a tech company.

by doppp 7y ago

It's not a tech company, it's a property company with the valuation of a tech company.

lotsofpulp 7y ago

Is it? I was under the impression it does not own land for the most part.

CrazyStat 7y ago
It's a mix. Some locations they own, some they lease--including some that the CEO owns and they lease from him, which is an interesting arrangement.
- vorpalhex 7y ago
  A school I attended once had a similar arrangement with one of its board members. I also vaguely recall that board member defrauding the school of several million dollars and being federally charged...
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    It's different for a school though because there are regulations on related party transactions for nonprofits.
- ohashi 7y ago
  How is that going to fly with a public company?
  - bradstewart 7y ago
    As long as the lease rates are inline with the market rates, shouldn't be an issue.
  - elliekelly 7y ago
    Page 28 discusses it. They have an interesting approach to managing the conflict: > Pursuant to our related party transactions policy, all additional material related party transactions that we enter into require either (i) the unanimous consent of our audit committee or (ii) the approval of a majority of the members of our board of directors. I was pretty impressed when I read "unanimous consent of our audit committee" but then it all went out the window when I saw or the majority of the Board. The company CEO/landlord is the person with the major conflict of interest. He also has the majority voting power of the company stock and will control the board. WeWork's attempt to mitigate this conflict of interest is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
    - ohashi 7y ago
      That board position is the key problem. The conflict of interest isn't addressed at all.
- eugene2012 7y ago
  Under "Properties Leased to The We Company," this is very interesting: "As of June 30, 2019, future undiscounted minimum lease payments under these leases were approximately $236.6 million, which represents 0.5% of the Company’s total lease commitments as of June 30, 2019."
- uxp 7y ago
  > including some that the CEO owns and they lease from him Did you see the part of the filing where, in case of death or incapacitation in the next ten years where the CEO is unable to fulfill his duties, a group of two board members _and_ his wife will select the next CEO, and if those named board members are also not available anymore then his wife will solely pick the two board members who will pick the next CEO with her, and if _she_ is unavailable then the estate of the CEO and his wife will pick the next CEO? Page 198 I've never seen a company like this transfer to successive control via the private estate of the CEO in case of a vacancy. There's a lot of WTFs in here.

bko 7y ago

They're trying to sell it as tech > We have approximately 1,000 engineers, product designers and machine learning scientists that are dedicated to building, integrating and automating the complex systems we use to operate our business

mrcu5 7y ago
To do what? I'm not too familiar with them but what more do they have other than a website to look at potential spaces with some photos and a description and sign up for one? Maybe process payments as well?
- nabnob 7y ago
  I'll see if I can dig up the article, but I think they're planning on tracking everything that workers do in their buildings and giving that data to employers. Edit - found this - https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-new-strategy-it-just-might-signal-end-of-workplace-as-we-know-it.html https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-ne... >WeWork's latest acquisition is a small software company with 24 employees. Euclid is a spatial analytics platform...Euclid's website says the company is "focused on redefining the workplace experience of the future." Translation: optimizing every aspect of the physical workplace so workers are their most productive. Euclid does this by tracking how people move around physical spaces. Its technology can track how many people showed up to a meeting or to that after-work happy hour. The company can see where employees tend to congregate and for how long. It's all done over Wi-Fi.
  - DebtDeflation 7y ago
    There are a couple of issues with this. It's a well-known effect in management theory that workers behave differently when they know they're being observed. Also, presumably most of their tenants employ knowledge workers not factory floor workers, and so data about how often they go to the bathroom or how many steps they take in an hour is probably a lot less relevant than tracking what they're doing on their computers.

nabnob 7y ago

It's a property company that's planning tracking everything people do in their buildings. >WeWork's latest acquisition is a small software company with 24 employees. Euclid is a spatial analytics platform...Euclid's website says the company is "focused on redefining the workplace experience of the future." Translation: optimizing every aspect of the physical workplace so workers are their most productive. Euclid does this by tracking how people move around physical spaces. Its technology can track how many people showed up to a meeting or to that after-work happy hour. The company can see where employees tend to congregate and for how long. It's all done over Wi-Fi. Edit - forgot to link the article - https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-new-strategy-it-just-might-signal-end-of-workplace-as-we-know-it.html https://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/wework-is-trying-a-creepy-ne...

wpietri 7y ago
Yeah, I don't see that providing the outsized gains they're hoping for. I've talked to a number of entrepreneurs who business plan is basically 1. Collect data 2. ??? 3. Profit And every time I quiz them on point 2, they get squirrely. They can never explain exactly how it works; at best I get hazy references to Google making lots from data, which is at best a partial truth. In this case, I doubt having that data will do much; humans are already natural optimizers. Really, the things workplaces should be optimized for are unlikely to be easily measurable, so at best these systems will optimize for the wrong thing. And really, the reason workplaces aren't particularly optimal now is that most decisions are made not for maximizing business value, but for maximizing the power and comfort of those high up. As an example, when businesses relocate their headquarters, it is generally to move closer to the CEO's home. Or we can look at all the decisions made to optimize a visible metric, like cost, to the harm of invisible ones. E.g., the open office plan, which is cheap and lets managers supervise by looking out their office window, but significantly harms productivity and employee happiness.
- wickedsight 7y ago
  > And every time I quiz them on point 2, they get squirrely. Well, sure, but all they're being told is that data is the new gold. [0] And gold is valuable, so data must also be valuable. They tend to forget that not all data is gold, because 'some data is gold' isn't what they were told and also isn't fun. 0: https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/data-analytics/articles/the-new-gold.html https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/data-analytics/article...

KaiserPro 7y ago

Its a property management company. They own some leases, but not actual buildings.