4 ms·

Normally, I'd read your comment, grab my pitchfork and join you. This time, I disagree. Here's what TCI wrote in their letter: >The company has too many employ

Normally, I'd read your comment, grab my pitchfork and join you. This time, I disagree. Here's what TCI wrote in their letter: >The company has too many employees and the cost per employee is too high. >Headcount is too high. >... the business could be operated more effectively with significantly fewer employees. Yeah, cash-hungry hedge fund calling for layoffs. Got it. Yet here's an excerpt from the WSJ article on this restructuring: >Google said it planned to maintain Waze as a stand-alone service and didn’t plan to conduct any layoffs as part of the reorganization.

AndrewKemendo 4y ago
I'm open to changing my mind here so which are you suggesting: 1. Google did the Waze Maps/Maps merger to appease TCI so they could prevent layoffs 2. The Waze Maps/Maps merger is unrelated to the TCI memo
- jjulius 4y ago
  I am saying that this move is largely unrelated to the TCI memo. The WSJ article goes further: >In September, Mr. Pichai said he wanted Google to become 20% more productive and indicated the company could merge teams working on overlapping products. TCI's memo highlights five areas they think need to be adjusted, none of which Alphabet acquiesced to with this restructuring.
  - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
    Ok, so then who is pressuring google to take these actions?
    - ryanwaggoner 4y ago
      Who is pressuring you to leave these comments?
    - jjulius 4y ago
      To be frank: don't know, don't care, and I don't need to have an answer to that question in order to be able to disagree with your original point. You came to this thread telling Googlers that the blame for this lies with TCI. I was curious, so I read TCI's memo and the WSJ piece. Now that I've done so, I simply find your assertion far-fetched, for these differences: TCI - Sent letter to Alphabet in mid-November - Holds a mere .5% of Alphabet's market cap - Asked for headcount reduction - Asked Alphabet to pay employees less Alphabet - Publicly commented in September that they intended to combine overlapping groups - Combined overlapping groups - Didn't lay anyone off That's it. At this point, given your slightly elevated tone in your most recent responses, it's starting to feel as though you began commenting with an axe to grind, and are now left holding an axe but are unsure what you should do with it. Maybe just put it down?
      - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
        I appreciate the exchange The genesis here was me keying off of related phrases within the WSJ piece: "...Amid Pressure to Cut Costs" "...faces pressure to streamline operations and cut costs" Ok, great. So, my question is where is this pressure coming from? "The activist hedge fund TCI Fund Management called on Alphabet to aggressively cut costs last month, writing in a letter to management that it thought the company’s head count was too high" This is the WSJ suggesting that there is a link (granted they do not give confidence intervals) between these things. You could argue that perhaps WSJ is just poorly suggesting that there is a general "background radiation" of "pressure" related to Google. So it's not like I'm just fabricating this link :) But since you asked, the larger point and the particular axe I have to grind (that is permanently attached to my hand) is that investors have more power than the collective google employees do, do not have employee interests in mind at all, and Google management and the board will always align with investors NOT employees.
    - IanCal 4y ago
      Why do they need pressure to combine two teams that work on extremely similar apps?
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    > wanted Google to become 20% more productive ... so, 16.33% headcount reductions?
stingrae 4y ago
If they intended to maintain it as a separate app, why did the leader of it leave? Knowing Google, I find it hard to believe that Waze under the Google maps lead will get resources and continue.
- jjulius 4y ago
  >If they intended to maintain it as a separate app, why did the leader of it leave? ... I'm not arguing whether or not they intended to keep the apps separate? If you want to know why he left, he's already told you[1]. >Knowing Google, I find it hard to believe that Waze under the Google maps lead will get resources and continue. Sure. Agreed. That's not what this comment chain was discussing, though. You sure you responded to the right post? [1]https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-so-long-noam-bardin/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-s...
  - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
    >If you want to know why he left, he's already told you[1]. The article clearly states that SHE left with no explanation why: Waze CEO Neha Parikh will exit her role following a transition period You're referencing an article that is over a year old about a completely different person.
    - jjulius 4y ago
      I mistakenly thought that that individual was referring to the founder's departure, not the CEO's termination post-restructuring. That's my bad.
      - astrange 4y ago
        The Waze founder left a while ago. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-so-long-noam-bardin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-s...
- nomel 4y ago
bradlys 4y ago
> Google said it planned to maintain Waze as a stand-alone service and didn’t plan to conduct any layoffs as part of the reorganization. Counterpoint - why would Google announce layoffs to the WSJ before it even happened? It’s possible that it’s in the works…
- SpeedilyDamage 4y ago
  You can't criticize a company for something they haven't done...
  - shakow 4y ago
    But you can still remain suspicious, see what happens in the coming months, and make yourself an opinion at this point.
    - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
      > make yourself an opinion at this point I suspect you mean, "at that point", talking about after "the coming months". If you do indeed mean today (at this point), then I'm actually curious why you think forming the opinion now isn't hasty.
      - shakow 4y ago
        I indeed meant ‶that″, I'm not a native speaker. The subtleties of this and that sort of elude me, just like these and those.
        lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
        That is very understandable, even many native speakers get the same sorts of things confused. Your comment just didn't seem so controversial as the lighter text suggested so I was hoping to clear that up. Thanks for confirming!
- karamanolev 4y ago

AndrewKemendo 4y ago

I'm open to changing my mind here so which are you suggesting: 1. Google did the Waze Maps/Maps merger to appease TCI so they could prevent layoffs 2. The Waze Maps/Maps merger is unrelated to the TCI memo

jjulius 4y ago
I am saying that this move is largely unrelated to the TCI memo. The WSJ article goes further: >In September, Mr. Pichai said he wanted Google to become 20% more productive and indicated the company could merge teams working on overlapping products. TCI's memo highlights five areas they think need to be adjusted, none of which Alphabet acquiesced to with this restructuring.
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  Ok, so then who is pressuring google to take these actions?
  - ryanwaggoner 4y ago
    Who is pressuring you to leave these comments?
  - jjulius 4y ago
    To be frank: don't know, don't care, and I don't need to have an answer to that question in order to be able to disagree with your original point. You came to this thread telling Googlers that the blame for this lies with TCI. I was curious, so I read TCI's memo and the WSJ piece. Now that I've done so, I simply find your assertion far-fetched, for these differences: TCI - Sent letter to Alphabet in mid-November - Holds a mere .5% of Alphabet's market cap - Asked for headcount reduction - Asked Alphabet to pay employees less Alphabet - Publicly commented in September that they intended to combine overlapping groups - Combined overlapping groups - Didn't lay anyone off That's it. At this point, given your slightly elevated tone in your most recent responses, it's starting to feel as though you began commenting with an axe to grind, and are now left holding an axe but are unsure what you should do with it. Maybe just put it down?
    - AndrewKemendo 4y ago
      I appreciate the exchange The genesis here was me keying off of related phrases within the WSJ piece: "...Amid Pressure to Cut Costs" "...faces pressure to streamline operations and cut costs" Ok, great. So, my question is where is this pressure coming from? "The activist hedge fund TCI Fund Management called on Alphabet to aggressively cut costs last month, writing in a letter to management that it thought the company’s head count was too high" This is the WSJ suggesting that there is a link (granted they do not give confidence intervals) between these things. You could argue that perhaps WSJ is just poorly suggesting that there is a general "background radiation" of "pressure" related to Google. So it's not like I'm just fabricating this link :) But since you asked, the larger point and the particular axe I have to grind (that is permanently attached to my hand) is that investors have more power than the collective google employees do, do not have employee interests in mind at all, and Google management and the board will always align with investors NOT employees.
  - IanCal 4y ago
    Why do they need pressure to combine two teams that work on extremely similar apps?
- ethbr0 4y ago
  > wanted Google to become 20% more productive ... so, 16.33% headcount reductions?

stingrae 4y ago

If they intended to maintain it as a separate app, why did the leader of it leave? Knowing Google, I find it hard to believe that Waze under the Google maps lead will get resources and continue.

jjulius 4y ago
>If they intended to maintain it as a separate app, why did the leader of it leave? ... I'm not arguing whether or not they intended to keep the apps separate? If you want to know why he left, he's already told you[1]. >Knowing Google, I find it hard to believe that Waze under the Google maps lead will get resources and continue. Sure. Agreed. That's not what this comment chain was discussing, though. You sure you responded to the right post? [1]https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-so-long-noam-bardin/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-s...
- AndrewKemendo 4y ago
  >If you want to know why he left, he's already told you[1]. The article clearly states that SHE left with no explanation why: Waze CEO Neha Parikh will exit her role following a transition period You're referencing an article that is over a year old about a completely different person.
  - jjulius 4y ago
    I mistakenly thought that that individual was referring to the founder's departure, not the CEO's termination post-restructuring. That's my bad.
    - astrange 4y ago
      The Waze founder left a while ago. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-so-long-noam-bardin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-s...
nomel 4y ago

bradlys 4y ago

> Google said it planned to maintain Waze as a stand-alone service and didn’t plan to conduct any layoffs as part of the reorganization. Counterpoint - why would Google announce layoffs to the WSJ before it even happened? It’s possible that it’s in the works…

SpeedilyDamage 4y ago
You can't criticize a company for something they haven't done...
- shakow 4y ago
  But you can still remain suspicious, see what happens in the coming months, and make yourself an opinion at this point.
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
    > make yourself an opinion at this point I suspect you mean, "at that point", talking about after "the coming months". If you do indeed mean today (at this point), then I'm actually curious why you think forming the opinion now isn't hasty.
    - shakow 4y ago
      I indeed meant ‶that″, I'm not a native speaker. The subtleties of this and that sort of elude me, just like these and those.
      - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 4y ago
        That is very understandable, even many native speakers get the same sorts of things confused. Your comment just didn't seem so controversial as the lighter text suggested so I was hoping to clear that up. Thanks for confirming!
karamanolev 4y ago