Their valuation is based on spirituality? Are they a business, or a church?
I mean, they can actually be more valuable than other such companies if they get the ambience right. Maybe that's what he meant. But if they're referring to the ambience as "spirituality", I cannot take them seriously. [Edit: And if by "spirituality" they mean something besides ambience, I still cannot take them seriously.]
If I had more faith in the market's rationality, I would short them as soon as they IPO...
>But if they're referring to the ambience as "spirituality", I cannot take them seriously.
I dunno, the Catholic church is doing just fine in terms of revenues and real estate assets, and that's just one example. Then again, religious organizations get preferable tax treatment...maybe WeWork will eventually pivot to religion down the road.
Unlike WeWork, the Catholic Church (and the mormons and scientologists) have realized that the best tax shelters come from actually owning the property that is used, not leasing it.
Some of the most successful cults did effectively operate as "startups" bootstrapped by a counterpart religious service community, i.e. the Oneida Community and the Amana Colonies
> If I had more faith in the market's rationality, I would short them as soon as they IPO...
Total tangent, but how much of the stock market do you think is fair? By fair I mean abiding by SEC regulations (and other obvious laws, such as regular fraud), versus unfair where people are using insider trading, trying to influence a short, or even have some ulterior motive perhaps related to politics?
Now I hope someone more knowledgeable than me chimes in with links to articles or papers, because I'd really love to learn more.
I said that the market might be irrational, not that it might be unfair.
"Irrational" is values that are not based on a reasonable interpretation of the company's financial state and reasonably forseeable future. This is what I think is meant by the saying "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."
"Unfair" means corrupt, rigged, or otherwise dishonest. I wasn't suggesting that. But like you, I'd love to see the results if someone can measure it...
I mean, they can actually be more valuable than other such companies if they get the ambience right. Maybe that's what he meant. But if they're referring to the ambience as "spirituality", I cannot take them seriously. [Edit: And if by "spirituality" they mean something besides ambience, I still cannot take them seriously.]
If I had more faith in the market's rationality, I would short them as soon as they IPO...