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I agree with your main point, but capital investments in tech are getting significantly larger, and most people in "big" tech don't think $100M is all that much

I agree with your main point, but capital investments in tech are getting significantly larger, and most people in "big" tech don't think $100M is all that much. Google's spent billions on self-driving cars. Many acquisitions are now in the $3-10B range (eg. Doubleclick @ $3B, GitHub @ $7.5B, Motorola @ $12.5B). A new semiconductor fab is around $8-10B. It's still possible to start a new company with just a laptop and free time in fringe markets like cryptocurrency, VR/AR, or many SaaS markets, but many of the exciting areas in tech today - AI, robotics, self-driving cars, gaming - require very large capital investments.

TuringNYC 7y ago
Not only that, but quarter-to-quarter investors and activist hedge funds often bully companies (tech or otherwise) to issue dividends and/or conduct buybacks instead of investing for the long-run. Google and Amazon are rare cash-cows able to support earnings growth and continue to invest for the long term, and even they get pressure to spend differently.