- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
The WeWork company might be one of the strangest in a while.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 1:47 pm
Posted on 8/16/19 at 1:47 pm
In terms of their upcoming IPO the details are borderline unbelievable.
Wework is basically a leasing company that brands itself as a Tech company so they can get a tech valuation. It's worked, the company is valued at $47B at $1.7B revenue.
This is WeWork compared to a dominant leasing company.
Here are some interesting notes as they get closer to an IPO
If the founder dies, his wife is one of two people who gets to run the company and choose the successor.
The founder renamed his company from WeWork to We Company and paid himself $5.9M for the trademark because his personal holding company was already called We Holdings.
Wow.
Wework is basically a leasing company that brands itself as a Tech company so they can get a tech valuation. It's worked, the company is valued at $47B at $1.7B revenue.
This is WeWork compared to a dominant leasing company.
quote:
In January, SoftBank dropped another $2 billion into The We Company, bringing it to a valuation of $47 billion, according to The New York Times. SoftBank’s total investment in The We Company — including those made by its Vision Fund — is something like $10 billion, that report said. The Vision Fund, which raised about $100 billion, is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Apple, and the government of Abu Dhabi, among others, according to Bloomberg.
Here are some interesting notes as they get closer to an IPO
If the founder dies, his wife is one of two people who gets to run the company and choose the successor.
quote:
- Adam (founder) has lease agreements with WE where he's earning $250m from properties he owns! - The company has loaned him $30m+ dollars since 2013 at 0.64% APR, enabling him to re-invest! - $500m loan using... stock at collateral!
The founder renamed his company from WeWork to We Company and paid himself $5.9M for the trademark because his personal holding company was already called We Holdings.
quote:
Adam dumped $700 million recently. For a public company all of the above would signal a conflict of interest.
quote:
The S-1 form notes that Adam “currently has a line of credit of up to $500 million with UBS AG, Stamford Branch, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Credit Suisse AG, New York Branch, of which approximately $380 million principal amount was outstanding as of July 31, 2019.”
quote:
That loan is secured by some of The We Company’s shares. AS THE WE COMPANY GOT LARGER, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS DECIDED TO GIVE ADAM REASON TO DO AN IPO Adam is also $97.4 million in the hole to JPMorgan Chase “across a variety of lending products, including mortgages secured by personal property,” though those “lending products” aren’t secured with We Company shares. Incidentally, JPMorgan Chase is one of the underwriters of The We Company IPO. (Others include Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Barclays. The IPO may be worth more than $122 million in fees, according to Bloomberg.)
quote:
While Adam hasn’t taken a salary for his We Company work — neither has Rebekah — the company issued him a $7 million loan in June 2016. (It is repaid, with interest.) There are a few reasons to launch an IPO: a big one is to take on new investment. IPOs also let insiders cash out. Before 2019, Adam had not received any equity awards, the documents say. But as The We Company got larger, the board of directors decided to give Adam reason to do an IPO, so Adam received options to purchase more than 42 million shares. The breakdown of the shares in Adam’s compensation package is as follows: 9,438,481 options vest every month for five years 9,438,481 options are performance-based vesting and vest monthly for five years 7,078,861 options will also be granted monthly “if we attain a public market capitalization of $50 billion and vest monthly for a period of years after that” 7,078,861 options “meet the performance-based vesting conditions if we attain a public market capitalization of $72 billion, and vest monthly over a period of two years from that date” 9,438,481 options “meet the performance-based vesting conditions if we attain a public market capitalization of $90 billion, and vest monthly over a period of two years from that date”
quote:
This led to the $362.1 million loan Adam got in April from The We Company to exercise his stock options. Adam repaid the loan this month by giving the shares back. “Following the settlement of this loan, the Company issued to Adam the number of profits interests equal to the number of shares surrendered by Adam in settlement of the loan.” I am not totally sure I follow this sentence, honestly, but it seems like Bloomberg’s Shira Ovide did, and here is how she describes it: “Neumann swapped out a portion of those options the company valued at more than $360 million in a complicated transaction with the company that gave him a financial instrument tied to future WeWork profits.”
Wow.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 1:49 pm to agregime1
Besides Zoom, most major tech IPOs have really bombed this year
Posted on 8/16/19 at 1:55 pm to castorinho
quote:
most major tech IPOs have really bombed this year
Think the point is that this isn't a tech company and looks a lot like there are a ton of issues under the hood
Posted on 8/16/19 at 1:58 pm to agregime1
By my quick evaluation, the company is basically worthless
Posted on 8/16/19 at 2:02 pm to agregime1
quote:
WeWork is an American company that provides shared workspaces for technology startup subculture communities, and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, small businesses and large enterprises.
quote:
With a possible recession looming, WeWork’s parent, the We Company, disclosed that over the next 15 years, it has $47 billion in lease commitments. That’s the same amount as its latest valuation, and that figure is in addition to $6 billion debt.
Currently, the company says it has $4 billion in committed revenue from its customers and $2.5 billion in cash, half of which is unrestricted, according to its S-1 filing.
LINK
So they rent unoccupied buildings and then sublet to people who need short term office space? Yeah... totes a tech company.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 2:06 pm to agregime1
CBRE is doing essentially the same open flex space concept to compete with them.
I would trust them a bit more vs the wework ipo since they are quite diversified.
I would trust them a bit more vs the wework ipo since they are quite diversified.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 2:09 pm to Dr RC
They are Regus without the private offices.
Starbucks without the coffee.
Starbucks without the coffee.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 2:17 pm to Tiger Ryno
I heard about WeWork a few months ago so was curious and looked into them a little.. from what I gather, they provide workspaces/offices for , as mentioned above, entrepreneurs, freelancers and the like.. So basically, they are trying to appeal to people who work at home/in the field by taking away the main benefit of working from home- which is the WORKING FROM HOME part... i home-office and would never willingly pay someone (or have my employer pay) for me to have to go into an office or ‘workspace’ ..to me that is insanity.. some people think if they work from home they’ll miss the ‘camaraderie’ or interaction; I’ve found it to be the exact opposite- it’s absolutely exhilarating to not have to deal with water-cooler conversation and office politics BS.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 2:22 pm to Sweltering Chill
I mean, I find coworking to be weird as a concept
BUT, if you consider that you have more and more people working from home, and that a lot of these young professionals live in tiny apartments or the like in expensive sections of major cities, it makes a little more sense why productivity in actually working from home might be an issue.
All that aside I think WeWork as a high chance of being a house of cards.
BUT, if you consider that you have more and more people working from home, and that a lot of these young professionals live in tiny apartments or the like in expensive sections of major cities, it makes a little more sense why productivity in actually working from home might be an issue.
All that aside I think WeWork as a high chance of being a house of cards.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 2:33 pm to agregime1
Is this where the liberal snowflakes work?
Posted on 8/16/19 at 3:33 pm to Dr RC
quote:
With a possible recession looming
Posted on 8/16/19 at 4:06 pm to IllegalPete
Let's be men here and stop moaning. All the locations I've visited had revolving door of hotties and kegs on tap...
If you need more info you will find out its a worthless investment but beer and chasing women usually is
If you need more info you will find out its a worthless investment but beer and chasing women usually is
Posted on 8/16/19 at 4:17 pm to agregime1
What’s weird is Softbank is not stupid. Those guys are serious.
Everything in the prospectus and more has already been known to them for awhile through their own due diligence.
Will be interesting to see how this goes.
Here in Houston WeWork is moving into brand new downtown class A office space in new tower recently built
Everything in the prospectus and more has already been known to them for awhile through their own due diligence.
Will be interesting to see how this goes.
Here in Houston WeWork is moving into brand new downtown class A office space in new tower recently built
This post was edited on 8/16/19 at 4:21 pm
Posted on 8/16/19 at 6:09 pm to agregime1
I sit in a WeWork office when I decide to clean up and drive into the office (normally remote, or on the road) - they have Jägermeister on tap in the common area. I support this company!
Posted on 8/16/19 at 6:12 pm to Dr RC
quote:
provides shared workspaces for technology startup subculture communities
That's the one thing I hate about working in tech is that everyone wants to be a "startup". Even well established companies that have been doing business for years claim to have a "startup culture" when they don't even know what it means.
Posted on 8/16/19 at 6:39 pm to J Murdah
quote:
Is this where the liberal snowflakes work?
It must be a miserably exhausting existence to relate every single thing you encounter in your life to politics.
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News