Read on Twitter
1. Just got off the phone with a source who shared a story with me of remarkable (but unsurprising) corporate hypocrisy. It involves the Related Companies, a real estate company with over $60 billion in owned/managed assets, and one of its investments, the fitness chain @Equinox
2. You may have heard of the Related Companies last year when the majority owner and Chairman Stephen Ross hosted a fundraiser for President Trump. That led some @Equinox gym/Soul Cycle members to drop their memberships and boycott the company. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/09/who-is-stephen-ross-billionaire-criticized-his-high-end-trump-fundraiser/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/...
3. The video in the first post is an interview with the CEO of Related Companies Jeff Blau. In the interview he is rather clear that Related Companies (which is a big landlord) isn& #39;t going to accept excuses of non payment of rent from companies/people that are well capitalized.
4. In the interview he says that so-far, in April, 88% of residential tenants have paid their rent; 95% of commercial tenants have paid; and 26% of retail tenants have paid.
Blau is clear, if you have the ability as a tenant, you must pay.
Blau is clear, if you have the ability as a tenant, you must pay.
5. In fact, Blau went a step further & mentioned Related Companies would not accept "blanket letters to landlords"
Well here& #39;s where I tell you @Equinox Fitness (Related & Ross are investors) has sent a blanket letter to landlords saying it won& #39;t pay rent in April
Well here& #39;s where I tell you @Equinox Fitness (Related & Ross are investors) has sent a blanket letter to landlords saying it won& #39;t pay rent in April
6. My source read one of those letters to me, it was from @Equinox Fitness CFO to a landlord saying that the company would not be paying rent in April. I know of at least two other letters sent by Equinox to landlords.
7. So the CEO of Related Companies is boldly saying they won& #39;t accept blanket letters to landlords and that well capitalized companies had to pay their rent, but @Equinox (which they used to own fully but have since sold off some chunks to others) is not following these standards
8. This isn& #39;t the first example of hypocrisy, @erinvandermeer was told by @Equinox her $8,000 invoice would not be paid. After she tweeted about it, they reached out to her and told her she would be paid after all. https://twitter.com/erinvandermeer/status/1247213743844573184">https://twitter.com/erinvande...
9. Related Companies may come back to me or anyone who covers this and say Equinox is an investment of Ross/Related whose 300 locations were forced to close, taking the fitness chain to zero revenue overnight and that it fits the standard of a company that isn& #39;t well-capitalized
10. But I suspect that excuse would not be accepted by Related Companies if a major company came to them with the same excuse if that company was partially owned by a real estate group with over $60 billion in owned/managed assets.
