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> was phenomenally successful at building a large, real business What? How? He built an 8b business with 16b in investment. Anyone can do that. Take 16b, put i

> was phenomenally successful at building a large, real business What? How? He built an 8b business with 16b in investment. Anyone can do that. Take 16b, put it in index funds, call yourself an investment bank. You'd get better returns than -50%, for sure.

dreamcompiler 7y ago
Or as Matt Levine might say, take the $16b, light half of it on fire, and put the other half under your mattress. Boom: You've just beaten negative interest rates.
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rollerboi 7y ago
Not just anyone gets 16b of funding to lose 50% on it. You need to be a very charismatic CEO - maybe borderline cult-leader status
- kmonsen 7y ago
  I think you also need some "special" investors. In this case softbank appreciated the crazyness of the CEO.
  - rollerboi 7y ago
    Yes, but don't forget that those "special" investors were funded by even richer, special-er investors. Softbank funded WeWork via the Vision fund, which is primarily funded with Saudi money.
- Uhuhreally 7y ago
  and there you have hit the nail on the head
- arcticbull 7y ago
  Right but we're assessing the quality of the business he built. It's crap. That doesn't change with what the parent said.
- csommers 7y ago
  ANYONE can lose that kind of money - that's the point they were getting at. No need to be pedantic.
verelo 7y ago
I'd love to see you try. It's easy to turn $20 into $40, but as you approach larger numbers it keeps getting harder.
- deleted 7y ago
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- jagged-chisel 7y ago
  Looks like you've got it backward - as long as your $16b doesn't turn into $8b (negative fifty percent), you're doing better than this guy. If you put the $16b in any kind of mutual find, you're going to get a positive return, even if it's a single digit percentage, and it'll be much better than this guy.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    Overall I agree with the point, but I was considering the idea of risk and the stock market, and I looked at what kind of return you would get if you invested in a major index at a peak and sold at the low point, and historically it's been in the ballpark of -70%. So the odds are lower and the timescale is longer, but you could still lose more, potentially.
    - verelo 7y ago
      The issue i have with all these arguments is that while you can turn x into 2x, when you layer on interest, taxes, and any fees you encounter in the process...your cut won’t be what you thought it was going to be. Making money isn’t cheap and anyone who thinks it is hasn’t actually tried to do it yet.
      - perl4ever 7y ago
        That's a negative 70% in the worst case. I wasn't talking about making 70%.
- OnlineGladiator 7y ago
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dreamcompiler 7y ago

Or as Matt Levine might say, take the $16b, light half of it on fire, and put the other half under your mattress. Boom: You've just beaten negative interest rates.

deleted 7y ago

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rollerboi 7y ago

Not just anyone gets 16b of funding to lose 50% on it. You need to be a very charismatic CEO - maybe borderline cult-leader status

kmonsen 7y ago
I think you also need some "special" investors. In this case softbank appreciated the crazyness of the CEO.
- rollerboi 7y ago
  Yes, but don't forget that those "special" investors were funded by even richer, special-er investors. Softbank funded WeWork via the Vision fund, which is primarily funded with Saudi money.
Uhuhreally 7y ago
and there you have hit the nail on the head
arcticbull 7y ago
Right but we're assessing the quality of the business he built. It's crap. That doesn't change with what the parent said.
csommers 7y ago
ANYONE can lose that kind of money - that's the point they were getting at. No need to be pedantic.

verelo 7y ago

I'd love to see you try. It's easy to turn $20 into $40, but as you approach larger numbers it keeps getting harder.

deleted 7y ago
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jagged-chisel 7y ago
Looks like you've got it backward - as long as your $16b doesn't turn into $8b (negative fifty percent), you're doing better than this guy. If you put the $16b in any kind of mutual find, you're going to get a positive return, even if it's a single digit percentage, and it'll be much better than this guy.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  Overall I agree with the point, but I was considering the idea of risk and the stock market, and I looked at what kind of return you would get if you invested in a major index at a peak and sold at the low point, and historically it's been in the ballpark of -70%. So the odds are lower and the timescale is longer, but you could still lose more, potentially.
  - verelo 7y ago
    The issue i have with all these arguments is that while you can turn x into 2x, when you layer on interest, taxes, and any fees you encounter in the process...your cut won’t be what you thought it was going to be. Making money isn’t cheap and anyone who thinks it is hasn’t actually tried to do it yet.
    - perl4ever 7y ago
      That's a negative 70% in the worst case. I wasn't talking about making 70%.
OnlineGladiator 7y ago

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