Re:WeWTF
by projektfu on Saturday August 17, 2019 @01:40PM
(#20725176)
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.
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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).
That’s reasonable.
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.
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.
Curious for evidence of this.
Re:WeWTF
by dragonwriter on Saturday August 17, 2019 @03:28PM
(#20725811)
> Holmes was deceptive in her fraud
That's kind of true-by-definition; you can't have fraud without being deceptive.
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.
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.
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.
Re:WeWTF
by aaronbrethorst on Saturday August 17, 2019 @03:23PM
(#20725787)
Neumann's bullshit doesn't run the risk of killing anyone.