Well actually… didn’t they lease buildings with shell companies and almost no recourse by building owners? I think a bunch of commercial real estate holders are gonna be holding a bag of pants.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/16/we-company-ceo-in-hot-wate...
Scene from "The Founder" "You have a miniscule revenue stream, no cash reserves, and an albatross of a contract....
What you ought to be doing is buying up plots of land, then turning around and leasing said plots to franchisees, who as a condition of their deal should be permitted to lease from you and you alone. This will provide you with two things: One, a steady, upfront revenue stream. Money flows in before the first stake is in the ground. Two, greater capital for expansion. Which in turn fuels further land acquisition, which in turn fuels further expansion. And so on and so on. Land... That’s where the money is. (BEAT) And control."
Uber and Airbnb outsourced the risks of these assets.
If some cars or flats are suddenly no longer in demand, there is no cost to them.
If WeWork had functioned like an Airbnb for offices, underperforming locations would have been less of a problem.