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Seems like WeWork will continue to be in trouble for a while. The pandemic has allowed them to renegotiate a lot of their lease agreements, which how's allowed

Seems like WeWork will continue to be in trouble for a while. The pandemic has allowed them to renegotiate a lot of their lease agreements, which how's allowed them to eek out profitability in many locations, and they're trying to extricate themselves from their worst deals, but demand for their product is going to continue to look different when the pandemic ends (assuming it ends!). Less desire for shared/common working space. Less worker density. More WFH. They're going to need to invest even more to alter their workspaces to what their customers actually want.

ghaff 5y ago
>Less desire for shared/common working space. At the individual company level, there's some level of common understanding of rules/protocols for coming into offices. That's not generally going to be the case with co-working spaces.
dehrmann 5y ago
They might actually positioned really well for companies that don't want to commit to their own space when the company is remote half the time.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  That's a fickle slice though. They're only attractive to (a) individuals or (b) companies too small to just deal directly with standard office space brokers. They need larger accounts to drive their COGS down, but larger accounts can bypass their service. So they're like a cloud provider, except without all the synergy and lock-in. The only future where they're moderately successful is one where workforces are substantially more spread out (one employee in each different city) and they're a broker. But even then... they'd face the challenge of scaling their business geographically (office in every city) vs having larger offices in hubs.
- notsospecialk 5y ago
  Maybe. They'll still need to invest quite a bit to get there though both in how their space is set up and their operating model. Right now empty co-working spaces are quite attractive, but as the get back to a capacity that's actually profitable for WeWork, they are essentially selling 1) occasionally sitting in close proximity to a bunch strangers that changes every time you go in (the day pass), 2) or nicely furnished/designed but overpriced priced reserved offices (monthly subscription). Companies (and probably workers too) are generally going to be cautious about #1 due to covid long after the dust settles, and #2 is just not a great deal regardless of who's fronting the bill.
fairity 5y ago
Isn't WeWork uniquely positioned to accommodate employers who are looking for flexible post-COVID office setups? As more workers go remote, some will still want a physical office to work out of. That's something WeWork should excel at.
- ghaff 5y ago
  But if employers don't pay for it (and I expect nonpaying will be the norm), they're now negotiating with very price-sensitive individual employees.

ghaff 5y ago

>Less desire for shared/common working space. At the individual company level, there's some level of common understanding of rules/protocols for coming into offices. That's not generally going to be the case with co-working spaces.

dehrmann 5y ago

They might actually positioned really well for companies that don't want to commit to their own space when the company is remote half the time.

ethbr0 5y ago
That's a fickle slice though. They're only attractive to (a) individuals or (b) companies too small to just deal directly with standard office space brokers. They need larger accounts to drive their COGS down, but larger accounts can bypass their service. So they're like a cloud provider, except without all the synergy and lock-in. The only future where they're moderately successful is one where workforces are substantially more spread out (one employee in each different city) and they're a broker. But even then... they'd face the challenge of scaling their business geographically (office in every city) vs having larger offices in hubs.
notsospecialk 5y ago
Maybe. They'll still need to invest quite a bit to get there though both in how their space is set up and their operating model. Right now empty co-working spaces are quite attractive, but as the get back to a capacity that's actually profitable for WeWork, they are essentially selling 1) occasionally sitting in close proximity to a bunch strangers that changes every time you go in (the day pass), 2) or nicely furnished/designed but overpriced priced reserved offices (monthly subscription). Companies (and probably workers too) are generally going to be cautious about #1 due to covid long after the dust settles, and #2 is just not a great deal regardless of who's fronting the bill.

fairity 5y ago

Isn't WeWork uniquely positioned to accommodate employers who are looking for flexible post-COVID office setups? As more workers go remote, some will still want a physical office to work out of. That's something WeWork should excel at.

ghaff 5y ago
But if employers don't pay for it (and I expect nonpaying will be the norm), they're now negotiating with very price-sensitive individual employees.