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The problem they have is that you can’t save this business by clapping louder. Either it starts generating profits or it’ll go out of business. I am just pers

The problem they have is that you can’t save this business by clapping louder. Either it starts generating profits or it’ll go out of business. I am just personally surprised that Adam Neumann isn’t getting the kind of negativity Elizabeth Holmes got. Perhaps after it goes down, who knows, but his activity has been sufficiently shady that it should be drawing more fire.

treis 7y ago
Holmes was deceptive in her fraud and flat out lied to investors. Neumann's fraud is disclosed and well documented. No skin off my back if he pockets hundreds of millions of Saudi money.
- projektfu 7y ago
  I’ve got no idea what he’s said to investors but it sounds like they’ve been repeatedly surprised by things like his real estate holdings and ownership of the trademark.
  - sroussey 7y ago
    Curious for evidence of this.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > Holmes was deceptive in her fraud That's kind of true-by-definition; you can't have fraud without being deceptive.
  - Someone 7y ago
    And, from that, it follows that ”Neumann's fraud is disclosed and well documented” cannot be correct. If they (clearly) disclose all they do, it can’t be fraud.
DINKDINK 7y ago
It appears that We has a functional product they're delivering to buying customers; but at severely-questionable future profitability. Theranos claimed they had a product that achieved results it couldn't, customers they didn't have. It seems the difference is between profit viability (We) and fraud (Theranos).
- projektfu 7y ago
  That’s reasonable.
danso 7y ago
WeWork customers actually get the office space and amenities they pay for. Theranos customers were not getting finger-prick tests, and many of the tests ended up inaccurate anyway.
- projektfu 7y ago
  That’s true too. The good news, I suppose, is that their customers haven’t put a lot on the line. Leaseholders and investors on the other hand, have. Thinking back to the scandals of the early 2000s, many of them were simply overestimating profits while extracting cash. Eventually the profits needed to appear so they went to accounting fraud.
aaronbrethorst 7y ago
Neumann's bullshit doesn't run the risk of killing anyone.

treis 7y ago

Holmes was deceptive in her fraud and flat out lied to investors. Neumann's fraud is disclosed and well documented. No skin off my back if he pockets hundreds of millions of Saudi money.

projektfu 7y ago
I’ve got no idea what he’s said to investors but it sounds like they’ve been repeatedly surprised by things like his real estate holdings and ownership of the trademark.
- sroussey 7y ago
  Curious for evidence of this.
dragonwriter 7y ago
> Holmes was deceptive in her fraud That's kind of true-by-definition; you can't have fraud without being deceptive.
- Someone 7y ago
  And, from that, it follows that ”Neumann's fraud is disclosed and well documented” cannot be correct. If they (clearly) disclose all they do, it can’t be fraud.

DINKDINK 7y ago

It appears that We has a functional product they're delivering to buying customers; but at severely-questionable future profitability. Theranos claimed they had a product that achieved results it couldn't, customers they didn't have. It seems the difference is between profit viability (We) and fraud (Theranos).

projektfu 7y ago
That’s reasonable.

danso 7y ago

WeWork customers actually get the office space and amenities they pay for. Theranos customers were not getting finger-prick tests, and many of the tests ended up inaccurate anyway.

projektfu 7y ago
That’s true too. The good news, I suppose, is that their customers haven’t put a lot on the line. Leaseholders and investors on the other hand, have. Thinking back to the scandals of the early 2000s, many of them were simply overestimating profits while extracting cash. Eventually the profits needed to appear so they went to accounting fraud.

aaronbrethorst 7y ago

Neumann's bullshit doesn't run the risk of killing anyone.