WeWork to open shared offices for entrepreneurs in Hollywood

 

WeWork, a shared-office service for budding entrepreneurs, has agreed to open its first Southern California outpost, in Hollywood.

The New York company leased 35,681 square feet, almost half the space in the former Stephen J. Cannell building at 7083 Hollywood Blvd., in a deal valued at $15 million.

WeWork plans to open offices for 350 to 400 entrepreneurs and small-business freelancers by mid-February, co-founder Adam Neumann said. Tenants will be screened by WeWork to ensure a wide range of business specialties. They will be encouraged to do business with one another.

“What we are creating is a networking community,” Neumann said. “We are the world’s first physical social network.”

The Los Angeles office will be WeWork’s sixth, joining a recently opened outpost in San Francisco and four in New York. The offices are an updated version of executive suites, Neumann said, in which tenants share workstations and such amenities as kitchens, conference rooms, coffee bars, private phone booths, a meditation room and an Xbox gaming lounge.

Building managers observe tenants’ business skills and make introductions and recommendations for work with other tenants, he said.

“If you are a member of the WeWork community, we can get your lawyer, accounting services, PR, IT person and brander all for less than $10,000,” Neumann said.

In other cities, WeWork offices are in historic-looking buildings that predate World War II. The Los Angeles offices will be in a six-story mirrored glass structure near La Brea Avenue that was completed in 1985 and is owned by CIM Group, Hollywood’s largest commercial landlord.

“Los Angeles was a little bit of an enigma,” Neumann said. “It’s not easy to understand where the right location is, not like New York,” where offices are in fashionable neighborhoods, including SoHo and the Meatpacking district.

Hollywood, he decided, is up and coming and had the added blessing of his wife, actress Rebekah Paltrow. The cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow “lived in Los Angeles for a few years, and from her experience this was the right place,” he said.

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Photo: Inside a WeWork shared office in New York. Credit: WeWork

 

 

Scam watch: Social Security, malware, investments

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for.

Social Security -- Thieves have been impersonating Social Security Administration employees in an attempt to steal seniors' personal information, AARP said in a recent bulletin. The con artists call seniors, claim to be updating their records and ask for seniors’ Social Security numbers, birth dates and bank account numbers, AARP said. Consumers should never disclose such information over the telephone to strangers, AARP said. If concerned, consumers can call or visit a Social Security office to verify that the contact was legitimate.

Malware -- The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has charged seven international suspects -- six from Estonia and one from Russia -- with operating an Internet fraud scheme that infected more than 4 million computers worldwide with malicious software, or malware. At least 500,000 computers in the U.S. were infected during the scheme, which ran from 2007 until October, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release. The malware enabled the suspects to hijack Internet searches and re-route computers to certain websites and advertisements that paid the suspects for Web traffic. The scheme generated $14 million in illegitimate income for the suspects, the news release said. Victims’ computers were infected with the malware when they visited certain websites or downloaded certain software to view videos online, according to an indictment.

Investment fraud -- The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused a San Diego investment advisor of failing to disclose that his firm received a 10% commission whenever clients invested in a nonpublic stock offering he promoted. The SEC said it has initiated administrative proceedings to determine whether Western Capital Pacific Management and its president, Kevin James O’Rourke, inappropriately profited when clients purchased shares of Ameranth Inc. in 2005 and 2006. The company paid Western Pacific a 10% “success fee” each time it directed a client to purchase shares of its nonpublic stock, the SEC said. In addition, the SEC accused O’Rourke and the firm of misrepresenting the liquidity of a hedge fund they operated.

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-- Stuart Pfeifer

Photo: The Securities and Exchange Commission. Credit: Bloomberg