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Wow what a huge rise and fall in the past few weeks! What I don't understand is how the S-1 filing ever saw the light of day? How could nobody reviewing that

Wow what a huge rise and fall in the past few weeks! What I don't understand is how the S-1 filing ever saw the light of day? How could nobody reviewing that see any of the red flags that were obvious? I think this just shows how hard it is to be objective when there are so many cultural/financial/etc influences affecting your judgement. Obviously their team bought the hype (and as a sad Browns fan I can totally sympathize with buying into hype then being disappointed!)

walru 7y ago
Did you not watch the game yesterday?
chii 7y ago
> Obviously their team bought the hype or nobody wanted to rock the boat. If you had pointed out this as a legal grunt or rank & file finance guy, you would have looked bad for "ruining" the exec's payday. Better to let the market decide and just keep your head down and receive your pay check.
- bcrosby95 7y ago
  Especially if it turned out the market loved it. Then you're truly screwed. When you're working for a regular paycheck, better to be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and wrong.
mikestew 7y ago
How could nobody reviewing that see any of the red flags that were obvious? The Emperor's New Clothes is not just about rulers and their fashion choices. I've caught myself doing the same thing with much smaller investments that are rolling over tits up. I wanna believe, because the alternative is most unappealing ("You were wrong, Mr. Mikestew, and you are going to lose money on this. Most of it, in fact.") So I'm guessing when reviewing the S-1 when your financial testicles are lying on the block, you can easily skim right over the uncomfortable parts. Of course, the rest of us with no financial stake, or other incentive to look at the S-1 with only one eye, look and ask, "WTF?"
luckydata 7y ago
The people in charge very clearly misread the market and thought they could unload that steaming pile of junk on the public markets. Everyone involved in this IPO knew how bad things were, they just hoped the market was hungry enough for "tech stocks" to paper over those issues.
mtgx 7y ago
Because everyone involved in the IPO would have benefited from making the company public? Powerful incentives are a hell of a drug.
faramarz 7y ago
they were all operating (and may still be) from within the reality distortion field. the field covers the valley and beyond.
jonny_eh 7y ago
Bystander effect, nobody speaks up because no one else has spoken up. Even if you have a feeling that something is a bad idea, you don't want to stick your neck out and have to defend your claim.
- tyingq 7y ago
  Probably also the (former) CEO that won't back off until he actually touches the stove. Some people are experiential learners.
brown9-2 7y ago
> In a frenzied effort to secure the roughly $100 million in fees for representing WeWork’s IPO, the world’s biggest banks had fallen over themselves to convince Neumann they understood the grandiosity of his vision. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/what-happened-at-we-why-wework-postponed-its-ipo.html http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/what-happened-at-we-w...
yawaramin 7y ago
It's all about them Benjamins.
LutfuRadu 7y ago
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" Upton Sinclair

walru 7y ago

Did you not watch the game yesterday?

chii 7y ago

> Obviously their team bought the hype or nobody wanted to rock the boat. If you had pointed out this as a legal grunt or rank & file finance guy, you would have looked bad for "ruining" the exec's payday. Better to let the market decide and just keep your head down and receive your pay check.

bcrosby95 7y ago
Especially if it turned out the market loved it. Then you're truly screwed. When you're working for a regular paycheck, better to be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and wrong.

mikestew 7y ago

How could nobody reviewing that see any of the red flags that were obvious? The Emperor's New Clothes is not just about rulers and their fashion choices. I've caught myself doing the same thing with much smaller investments that are rolling over tits up. I wanna believe, because the alternative is most unappealing ("You were wrong, Mr. Mikestew, and you are going to lose money on this. Most of it, in fact.") So I'm guessing when reviewing the S-1 when your financial testicles are lying on the block, you can easily skim right over the uncomfortable parts. Of course, the rest of us with no financial stake, or other incentive to look at the S-1 with only one eye, look and ask, "WTF?"

luckydata 7y ago

The people in charge very clearly misread the market and thought they could unload that steaming pile of junk on the public markets. Everyone involved in this IPO knew how bad things were, they just hoped the market was hungry enough for "tech stocks" to paper over those issues.

mtgx 7y ago

Because everyone involved in the IPO would have benefited from making the company public? Powerful incentives are a hell of a drug.

faramarz 7y ago

they were all operating (and may still be) from within the reality distortion field. the field covers the valley and beyond.

jonny_eh 7y ago

Bystander effect, nobody speaks up because no one else has spoken up. Even if you have a feeling that something is a bad idea, you don't want to stick your neck out and have to defend your claim.

tyingq 7y ago
Probably also the (former) CEO that won't back off until he actually touches the stove. Some people are experiential learners.

brown9-2 7y ago

> In a frenzied effort to secure the roughly $100 million in fees for representing WeWork’s IPO, the world’s biggest banks had fallen over themselves to convince Neumann they understood the grandiosity of his vision. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/what-happened-at-we-why-wework-postponed-its-ipo.html http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/what-happened-at-we-w...

yawaramin 7y ago

It's all about them Benjamins.

LutfuRadu 7y ago

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" Upton Sinclair