[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.