Profitable big tech layoffs are, in my opinion, a different phenomenon. Those companies are trying to get their PE up to be competitive with fixed rate assets.

Profitable big tech layoffs are, in my opinion, a different phenomenon. Those companies are trying to get their PE up to be competitive with fixed rate assets. Otherwise, their share prices will suffer even more. For example, Google's PE of 19 is OK in the era of a free money, but not so good when rates are at 5% and defensive sectors yield 7+%. But the key thing is that the layoffs are not an existential question for them -- they are profitable and can continue to run for years even if their shares suffer. It would be a bad business decision, but will not lead to a quick death. I was talking about smaller, unprofitable, non-market dominating firms. If they are not profitable they will have to raise or die. And raising in the environment of 5+% rates and poor overall tech stock performance may get brutal. Currently, many of those companies still have significant runways (because they were able to raise a lot earlier), but this will start running out in the next several months. This may already be starting: two of my friends who work in such small companies (robotics and lasers) are sensing job uncertainty ahead. My 2c.