[MSM]

I see this everywhere but I can't see how it's true.

I'm guessing that a company's largest expenses are (probably in order, too): People, Technology, Office space.

Most companies, especially smaller companies, do not actually own the office space they are in, they lease it. Commercial real estate crashing would greatly reduce one of their top 3 expenses... how is that bad for the bottom line?

[crent]

Yeah exactly. If they signed a multi-year lease, they are still on the hook for the same amount of money but the space won't be used. It might feel bad but it was already budgeted for.

[beiller]

They are paying for space (sometimes beyond 100,000 per month) that the competition is not paying. Office space is the highest expense.

[Leherenn]

That sounds weird to me. Our current office can sit 5, with conference room, kitchen, ... It costs about 20% of an engineer's salary. And we're in one of the most expensive place in the world for rent.

[Cd00d]

Is office space really that cheap?

That actually sounds like a LOT of space compared to a 2-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn that would cost quite a bit more....

[Leherenn]

I think it's around 70 sqm, so pretty equivalent to a 2-bedroom really. We have a common area with 3 people and a small kitchen, a smaller room with 2 people and a conference room. Toilets are shared with other similar offices. And it's in an industrial building a few minutes away from the city centre, so a bit cheaper.

But even then, you can put 4/5 people comfortably in a 2-bedroom in Brooklyn if it's designed for it, and it's not going to cost you multiple times an engineer salary.

It might not scale as well though if you need to own your own campus with security, catering and all that.