The bet behind WeWork is that there's a ton of value currently being left on the table in outsourced office management; that everyone's doing it wrong, and doing it right is worth untold billions of dollars.

I'm not sure I can get behind that bet, but it's not an inherently absurd idea. Imagine explaining to someone in the early 70s why Wal-Mart is going to grow from a Southern department store chain to the largest company in the US.