Nice article, but it is wrong about liquidity events at WeWork. The author only discusses a tender offer that fell through at the end of 2019 after the failed IPO and collapse, implying there was nothing ever before.
There was a tender offer in 2017 with the first SoftBank investment, and again in early 2019 (pre IPO attempt, closed in April) associated with the second investment by SoftBank. It is possible there were earlier events, but I had joined in 2015.
That isn't to say things were roses; I know many early employees who, in the lead up to IPO, exercised their options and took enormous loans to pay AMT and were left in a terrible situation.
Thank you for letting me know about this - I searched for other tender offers or liquidity for employees of WeWork and couldn't find anything (and the 2 former WeWork employees I know joined in late 2019 / 2020 - so they had a pretty terrible experience)
I will re-work that section so that it's factually correct
There was a tender offer in 2017 with the first SoftBank investment, and again in early 2019 (pre IPO attempt, closed in April) associated with the second investment by SoftBank. It is possible there were earlier events, but I had joined in 2015.
That isn't to say things were roses; I know many early employees who, in the lead up to IPO, exercised their options and took enormous loans to pay AMT and were left in a terrible situation.