Todd Morgenfeld on Pinterest's decision to cancel a lease for 490,000 square feet in San Francisco

As we analyze how our workplace will change in a post-COVID world, we are specifically rethinking where future employees could be based. A more distributed workforce will give us the opportunity to hire people from a wider range of backgrounds and experiences. 

~ Todd Morgenfeld, Pinterest’s CFO and Head of Business Operations, "California Taxpayers Can Check Out Any Time They Like, But Lawmakers Still Want to Tax Those Who Leave," Forbes, August 31, 2020

(Pinterest announced at the end of August that it’s paying a termination fee in excess of $89 million to cancel a lease for 490,000 square feet of office space to be constructed near its current San Francisco headquarters.)

Nerdrotic on the mass exodus from San Francisco

I don't want to live in a city where rioting and looting is allowed.   I know, that sounds crazy.  I'm the bad guy here.  But I don't want to live in a place where it's against the law for my wife to go and run her business, but it's perfectly ok if someone wakes up in the morning and burns down my wife's business.

~ Nerdrotic, " San Francisco's Mass Exodus," YouTube, 2:08 mark

James Altucher on the death of New York City

OK, OK, but NYC always comes back... 

Yes, it does. I lived three blocks from Ground Zero on 9/11. Downtown, where I lived, was destroyed, but it came roaring back within two years. Such sadness and hardship — and then, quickly, that area became the most attractive area in New York. 

And in 2008 and 2009, there was much suffering during the Great Recession, and again much hardship, but things came roaring back. 

But this time it’s different. You’re never supposed to say that, but this time it’s true. 

If you believe this time is no different, that NYC is resilient — I really hope you’re right.

I don’t benefit from saying any of this. I love NYC. I was born there. I’ve lived there forever. I STILL live there. I love everything about NYC. I want 2019 back. 

But this time it’s different. 

One reason: bandwidth.

~ James Altucher, "New York City is dead forever," New York Post, August 17, 2020

Altucher meets Henry Winkler at his comedy club
(before coronavirus)