9 ms·

Bay Area tech giants announce massive layoffs on same day

39 points by alex_young 4y ago

asdajksah2123 4y ago
I suspect everyone knew the 50% layoffs by Twitter would suck up all the headlines so it was an ideal day to announce layoffs.
- shostack 4y ago
  Don't forget election news coverage to try and get lost in the noise.
ericmcer 4y ago
Wouldn't every company love to have an excuse to slash 10% of its workforce? It feels like under-performers slipping through the hiring filters is just a part of doing business, an excuse to remedy that without a huge negative PR backlash is ideal for them.
- gitfan86 4y ago
  Yes but some of these companies cannot survive in a high interest rate world with a recession.
  - slaw 4y ago
    That interest rates is non zero doesn't mean it is high. Real interest rate is negative, close to -5%
    - mandeepj 4y ago
      > Real interest rate is negative, close to -5% Can you elaborate on that? Are you saying corps are getting paid to take money on interest?
      - im3w1l 4y ago
        "real" in this context means inflation adjusted. Inflation decreases the value of money, but also the size of debts. Inflation is currently shrinking debts faster than the interest payments build it up. But it depends on what interest rate you have, high risk - high rate debt does not work like this.
        treeman79 4y ago
        Debt only decreases if your income is going up as well. Otherwise it just stinks.
      - slaw 4y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_interest_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_interest_rate
    - pixl97 4y ago
      What may matter is other businesses are talking about cutting spend with you next quarter in which companies will drop staffing quickly in order to show the same level of profitability even if a gross revenue loss occurs.
    - gitfan86 4y ago
      When I said high, what I meant is that loan payments have gone from 10k/month to 20k/month. For a company that was previously making 15k/revenue the 10% inflation will not help them prevent bankruptcy, even if they raise their revenue by 10%
- koheripbal 4y ago
  Why would they need an excuse? The people you employ isn't some arbitrary number.

39 points by alex_young 4y ago

I suspect everyone knew the 50% layoffs by Twitter would suck up all the headlines so it was an ideal day to announce layoffs.

shostack 4y ago
Don't forget election news coverage to try and get lost in the noise.

ericmcer 4y ago

Wouldn't every company love to have an excuse to slash 10% of its workforce? It feels like under-performers slipping through the hiring filters is just a part of doing business, an excuse to remedy that without a huge negative PR backlash is ideal for them.

gitfan86 4y ago
Yes but some of these companies cannot survive in a high interest rate world with a recession.
- slaw 4y ago
  That interest rates is non zero doesn't mean it is high. Real interest rate is negative, close to -5%
  - mandeepj 4y ago
    > Real interest rate is negative, close to -5% Can you elaborate on that? Are you saying corps are getting paid to take money on interest?
    - im3w1l 4y ago
      "real" in this context means inflation adjusted. Inflation decreases the value of money, but also the size of debts. Inflation is currently shrinking debts faster than the interest payments build it up. But it depends on what interest rate you have, high risk - high rate debt does not work like this.
      - treeman79 4y ago
        Debt only decreases if your income is going up as well. Otherwise it just stinks.
    - slaw 4y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_interest_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_interest_rate
  - pixl97 4y ago
    What may matter is other businesses are talking about cutting spend with you next quarter in which companies will drop staffing quickly in order to show the same level of profitability even if a gross revenue loss occurs.
  - gitfan86 4y ago
    When I said high, what I meant is that loan payments have gone from 10k/month to 20k/month. For a company that was previously making 15k/revenue the 10% inflation will not help them prevent bankruptcy, even if they raise their revenue by 10%
koheripbal 4y ago
Why would they need an excuse? The people you employ isn't some arbitrary number.