[ckdarby]

I believe WeWork could have worked well, but they raised money on valuations of being like a tech company.

They have a moat, their locations and global convenience. Same feel, same badge, same almost everything regardless of location.

I wasn't a Wework user until about 5 months ago where I decided to start working from there with a coworker twice a month. Has been a positive game changer!

The sense I get in Toronto is that more & more employers would like to do a model or having employees sync up at co-working locations, but are stuck with their 10 year leases.

Maybe Wework won't survive but I feel like someone will buy them when they go under and be able to operate profitable under normal real estate returns.

[SilverBirch]

I don't see how you can credibly claim their locations are a moat. Take any WeWork location in the world and there will be office space to rent within 5 minutes walk. So if they ever up their prices there's a juicy opportunity for a competitor just around the corner. The global convenience is a nice feature, but for 99.99% of workers it's probably a theoretical benefit rather than a practical benefit, and so it seems unlikely that that provides a competitive advantage.

The argument that companies would move to co-working spaces during the next downturn is something WeWork argued. But the truth is that during the downturn WeWork is stuck with high long term contracts and their customers either cancel (because it's a downturn) or can move to other cheaper coworking spaces that didn't lock in high costs during the boom times. It's a highly cyclical business and we know that because we can see how other established companies operate in the space.

[ckdarby]

Have you tried renting space elsewhere on a hot-desk approach?

In Montreal they want me to fill out a contact form and it isn't on demand instant like Wework.

After my first trip to Wework I now can book same minute access to any Wework location and use my card for access. Even though I'm not using it outside of the one city I've gone to the three within Montreal when one has no available space to book.

Don't underestimate the convenience this is the same reason I use Uber & Instacart.

[tonyedgecombe]

>The sense I get in Toronto is that more & more employers would like to do a model or having employees sync up at co-working locations, but are stuck with their 10 year leases.

Regus has been around for a long time.

https://www.regus.com