
What WeWork is giving laid-off employees who aren’t named Adam Neumann - SeanBoocock
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/7/20953930/wework-adam-neumann-severance-laid-off-employees-layoffs-buyout-unicorn-ipo
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X6S1x6Okd1st
Getting 4 months severance is not getting shafted.

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sidlls
I disagree, especially when compared to a self-dealing, unethical, borderline
fraudulent CEO getting $1.7bn. There's no good reason for him to have received
a penny, and if the board/VCs were okay with parting with $1.7bn, it should
have been distributed to the employees who weren't involved in his
shenanigans.

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manigandham
Layoff with 4 months is a great deal at any company.

What Adam did is an entirely separate issue, and not comparable to the average
employee. And it was really one main investor who controlled everything and
had to part with the money, and not because they wanted to but because that
was the price to get rid of Adam's control.

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toomuchtodo
WeWork is likely worth closer to $0 than $8-10 billion (not just my opinion,
Bill Ackman [1] is onboard with that valuation of both the equity and the
debt). If SoftBank had a spine, they would've paid out reasonable severance to
rank and file (which they have to do regardless), shown Neumann the door (and
burn his equity down with no consulting fee to help pay off his credit lines
to JPMorgan Chase, UBS Group and Credit Suisse Group), and spun the company
down. You don't need to pay a fraud for control of a worthless company.

[1] [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/10/30/wework-
cou...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/10/30/wework-could-worth-
zero-says-veteran-investor-bill-ackman/)

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manigandham
Well the severance is handled. As for the rest, what would shutting it down
accomplish?

Technically they haven't taken anything from anyone since they never went
public so it's just an expensive portfolio company for Softbank and the other
investors. If they feel they can turn it around then why not? Meanwhile all
those people continue to have jobs.

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moonka
Laying off employees and expecting them to sign non-competes for a month of
severance (since they are required by WARN to provide 3 of the 4 months) feels
very miserly and in bad faith. Why the non-compete?

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X6S1x6Okd1st
I thought WARN was 60 days.

[https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/WARN_Fact_Sheet_upda...](https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/WARN_Fact_Sheet_updated_03.06.2019.pdf)

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moonka
The article states:

>Under New York State WARN act labor regulations, employees are promised 90
days of paid notice or leave if they are laid off en masse.

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justinzollars
I think if you are a worker, it makes more sense to be at a big tech company.
I've been in Silicon Valley a while now, and I feel like something has changed
where the benefits have tilted away from startups. Greed is out of control,
there is too much money and I'm afraid it's not being invested wisely or spent
wisely.

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microcolonel
Once ordinary con men figured out that boundless optimism is all it takes to
get money, that's all many companies had.

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hn_throwaway_99
I think Neumann's package, especially the $185 million "consulting fee", was
particularly disgusting and outrageous.

That said, I think 4 months of severance is quite generous, so not sure what
these folks are complaining about.

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tyre
To be clear, his package was to relinquish control of the company. It’s not
like he was laid off. He had tremendous leverage and used it.

It’s really shitty that people are being laid off. With four months and a
still-booming job market, hopefully they’ll find somewhere quickly with a
short break in between to reset.

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AYBABTME
How exactly is it that no one seems to have a legal case against Neumann? I
have a hard time to believe that one can mess with investor's money so
blatantly and get away with one of if not the largest payout ever.

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unlinked_dll
it's not fraud if the investors knew what he was doing and were ok with it.

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9nGQluzmnq3M
That has rarely stopped investor lawsuits in the past.

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dmarlow
I wish I could be surprised by stuff like this. Feels like this stuff is the
norm, not the exception. Unfortunately, I don't see how this is going to
change anytime soon.

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rolltiide
There is a capital class and there is a non-capital class

The only difference between now and feudal society is that the peasants knew
it

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manigandham
Except back then you couldn't actually move up. Most people today can save and
generate wealth from leveraged capital today. That's literally every startup.

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rolltiide
There are numerous avenues of social mobility today and chronic structural
issues with each and every one of them today

I wasn’t going to write a dissertation to make my point

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manigandham
Yet you decided to compare with feudal society...

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rolltiide
I would do it again.

Would you prefer I replace “only difference” with “similarity” or “analogy”?
So then I can just say metaphors compare dissimilar things that share at least
one common attribute. The point itself would be the exact same and also skirt
right by the most pedantic rebuttals.

The peasants were aware of their place in society, the non-capital class has
cognitive dissonance their whole lives.

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seibelj
When you join a startup as a normal employee, the vast majority of the upside
goes not to you but to the founders and investors. Assume they make at least
100x what you will, or more like 1000x. So if you get a $100k payout in a very
good exit as a normal employee in a startup, likely the founders made at least
$10mil.

So none of this is surprising except the startup crashed so spectacularly.

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manigandham
Non-competes have no legal standing in several states (like California). It's
odd to tie them to severance.

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goatherders
People who way this have never had to fight one. I've been to court 3 times to
get out of "unenforceable" non competes. The contract may be empty, the legal
Bills are not.

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manigandham
It would be immediately thrown out unless there are other factors (like if you
signed under a different state's law) but it's no different than a company
filing any frivolous civil suit against you.

It costs money for both sides, but that cost usually deters the enforcement
too unless you're really about to start a major direct competitor. I don't see
WeWork doing that.

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rolltiide
Tl;Dr 4 months severance

But we are supposed to be mad that the largest and founding equity holder got
money for his equity commiserate with the market value that another equity
holder requires so they dont get bonesawed by their own limited partners

