8 ms·
Microsoft Hosted Sting Performance in Davos on Night Before Announcing Layoffs
- seydor 4y agoWhat did he sing? "Fragile" ? "I can't stand losing you" ? "If I ever lose my faith in you"?
- Doctor_Fegg 4y agoFields of Gold?
- philwelch 4y agoThey should just stop spending money hiring Sting for these private concerts. I thought it was clear when we said, “Defund The Police”.
- x86x87 4y agoDesert Rose... Ya leel, ya leel... layoffs... Ya leel!
- mark_l_watson 4y agoSorry to be off topic, but are most people here on HN as unhappy about Davos and the World Economic Forum as I am? I really dislike their "Young Leaders" program, going back decades (lots of US politicians, Canada's Prime Minister, etc. have been indoctrinated). I am very happy to see Davos getting bad rap right now from independent bloggers and independent (small) news outlets. This helps push back against corporate owned media which pushes a positive slant on one world government, "in 20 years you will own nothing and be very happy", etc.
- GrigoriyMikh 4y agoThere's short street interviews(or rather attempts) of WEF participants, booming on Twitter from Rebel News. To be fair, questions asked by interviewers are often just provocative, still, arrogance in behavior of, specifically, CEOs is just overwhelming.
- mikymoothrowa 4y agoHere’s how I think about it: Davos is a religious gathering. You wouldn’t be happy/unhappy about other religious gatherings that you don’t participate in. The elites really don’t have any control or vision over what’s going to happen, just like shamans and religious leaders of the past did not
- ErikVandeWater 4y agoHow do 52 heads of state and 600+ CEOs of the world's largest companies not have "any control or vision of what's going to happen?"
- GalenErso 4y agoBecause the WEF is not controlled by 52 heads of state of 600+ CEOs. It's controlled by Klaus Schwab, a managing board and an executive committee: https://www.weforum.org/about/leadership-and-governance https://www.weforum.org/about/leadership-and-governance 10 people sit on the managing board, none of them household names: Børge Brende, Mirek Dušek, Julien Gattoni, Jeremy Jurgens, Adrian Monck, Sarita Nayyar, Gim Huay Neo, Olivier M. Schwab, Saadia Zahidi, and Alois Zwinggi.
- themitigating 4y agoI don't think he meant control of how the WEF operates but of the world economy.
- cplusplusfellow 4y ago> elites really don’t have any control or vision over what’s going to happen, Is this satire, blindness, or just youthful optimism?
- potatototoo99 4y agoI think it's abhorrent how supposedly democratic countries don't see an issue with a private event just for politicians and international corporations.
- sameEvrWuz 4y agoInformation shaping has resulted in most not even knowing Davos exists.
- machina_ex_deus 4y agoI heard the new matrix doesn't try to hide, it's in your face gaslighting you and demoralizing you every time you observe it. Who needs to conspire secretly when you can do it publicly, and then turn around and say it's not a conspiracy since it's out in the open?
- themitigating 4y agoThen it's not a conspiracy.
- formerly_proven 4y agoWEF/Davos is extensively reported on in mainstream media. And you can watch the talks and panels on their own YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@wef/videos https://www.youtube.com/@wef/videos
- cjbgkagh 4y agoIt’s the more exclusive private parties where the real influence is wielded. Like convincing Japan to give Negative Interest Rate Policies a go as an experiment to see if it would work for the rest of us.
- emptyfile 4y ago[dead]
- 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- katamarimambo 4y agoI like Davos and the WEF. Most people against them these days are far-right nutjobs and some don't even know they are becoming like that. Populism is a hell of a drug.
- GrigoriyMikh 4y agoCan you elaborate, what specifically do you like about WEF?
- katamarimambo 4y agoIt's basically the powerful people's version of an academic symposium. I watched a lot of panels last week on youtube and the discussions were informed, interesting and very down to earth in regards to real problems and plausible solutions (not utopic, naïve, or extremist ones). Collaboration between governments, states and business, etc. Stuff that actually have a chance to achieve something. In particular I felt they were on point about the Amazon and the reception the new Environment Minister of Brazil, Marina Silva, a person I absolutely trust about this matter at least, was a great signal the WEF is an org I can trust, even if I disagree with some guests (natural since it's politics and I don't want it all to be in line with what I want).
- cycrutchfield 4y agoClearly you must’ve missed the panel about secretly controlling the world, it was in between the one on vampiric bloodsucking and the one on mind control via mass media. It’s truly disappointing how much the HN crowd skews towards conspiracy theorists these days. This place is becoming a cesspool for informed discussion.
- netsharc 4y agoTo be fair there's also a lot of leftists who protest WEF, G7/8/20, etc. There is also left populism... There's a lot of merit to face to face meetings - if you could have a date over FaceTime or in real life, which would you prefer? - and of course it's only the elite/influential people who are invited, they're the ones with the power to change things. Whether or not they're capable of fixing the world or if their hands are somewhat tied because of politics or shareholder motivations, is a different question. For some populism: I do think most politicians/elites care more about their career/wallet rather than the world.
- __derek__ 4y agoDavos is officially sanctioned corruption for oligarchs, but the organization is also apparently a cult of personality that may not survive Klaus Schwab, so maybe it will just go away.[1] [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/18/mutiny-erupts-among-wef-staff-over-role-of-mr-davos-klaus-schwab https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/18/mutiny-erup...
- cjbgkagh 4y agoI’m sure Henry Kissinger has other people lined up to take on that roll. The technique of using exclusive events to socialize and indoctrinate people is age-old.
- Tade0 4y agoWill he outlive Schwab, though?
- cjbgkagh 4y agoAt those ages it's a bit of a crap-shoot. Depends on who has access to the better adrenochrome (j/k)... I'm not sure if he needs to personally anoint the successor. It just surprises me that people don't realize that it's WEF is a continuations of a very old power structures that predates it.
- cycrutchfield 4y ago“Sorry to hijack this discussion thread with irrelevant flamebait”
- themitigating 4y agoWhat corporate owned media pushes the concept of a one world government. I've never heard that concept mentioned on the news
- kgwxd 4y agoIt feels like I'm watching a real life Villain-Con.
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoThat's smart, make them glad they're being fired.
- cbm-vic-20 4y agoI doubt any Microsoft employees in Davos were affected by the layoffs.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- flybrand 4y agoThat really stings…
- moomoo11 4y agoHonestly it’s just a job guys. People want these companies to act like your parents and coddle you. No it’s freakin Micro gd soft. You’re paid to work while the company believes it is worth paying you. I’m so tired of seeing these layoff news. DUDE WE ARE IN TECH. I make a ton of money, maybe not as much as some super elite tech workers but enough to live in SF and have six years runway to maintain my lifestyle without a job. I feel bad for people who make 12/her and get fired without 4 months plus severance, without health insurance extension, etc. Seriously, stop complaining. End of the day life is not fair and you have to set yourself up to SURVIVE. As a fellow tech worker, realize we are playing a capitalist game and when capital is expensive our jobs are at risk. It’s work. It’s business. You are exchanging time and skills for money willingly.
- themitigating 4y ago"I feel bad for people who make 12/her and get fired without 4 months plus severance, without health insurance extension, etc." But also "Seriously, stop complaining. End of the day life is not fair and you have to set yourself up to SURVIVE. " Why would you feel bad for those people if life isn't fair and they should have set themselves to survive?
- moomoo11 4y agoI do feel bad for the 12/hour folks considering I used to be one of those. As someone who got into tech as a self taught engineer at age 25 I am always blown away by the entitled nature of people around me who either A) don't work that hard and goof around on the clock and B) complain when we're literally coddled to the brim with free food, free trips to events every year, and various other free benefits. I remember not getting a $0.25 per hour raise one year and being upset about it for a minute. I didn't have free top of the line health insurance (no insurance actually), nor did my company just pay for things that have nothing to do with my job. As someone who went from a few hundred bucks in his bank account to now literally six figures in my checking, and much more in stocks and investments (which are down lol), even if I got laid off I know I'm probably getting 5 years x service + 3-4 months full pay severance worst case scenario. All I'm saying is that we're playing the game (capitalism) and companies will cut their losses. That's just how it works and we choose to sign offer letters, and yes I feel much worse for my friends who are not in tech who can barely afford to put food on the table or meet rent than a fellow tech bro who has to cancel his luxury Lake Tahoe cabin rental during these economic hardship times.
- joezydeco 4y agoI'm not going to defend the event or the optics of it all, but I would hazard a guess that if you hire Sting to perform at your company picnic it's not something you do the week before the event. The contract was probably signed off and paid in full months or years ago depending on how busy Mr. Sumner is these days. I've been in a similar situation. Large company outing booked and all set up for the holidays, then there's a sudden layoff involving most of the people booked on the trip. We gave them the tickets and said "why not go anyway?"
- qbasic_forever 4y agoThis was not the Microsoft company picnic, it was an event for 50 or so senior execs. Microsoft famously used to have a huge and extravagant company-wide picnic for all employees in the fall--they would rent out an entire stadium or other huge area. They canceled the company-wide picnic in the downturn of '09 and as far as I know never brought it back. This event was something different and just for a hand picked selection of execs.
- inglor 4y agoWhen we (our group in Microsoft) did our group event a few weeks ago it was in fact a picnic. Guess what? because we didn't want to spend a lot of money on it and wanted to show we are cost-cutting we did a potluck. Everyone cooked and brought stuff along. No one spent a lot of money, it was nice. When we did a team event it was volunteering together. No fancy restaurants like last year for the same reason - we don't want to be wasteful in an unclear market. I am disappointed in our execs doing this. I understand it was already probably pre-booked and it was probably just a few hours in a lot of long and frustrating leadership meeting but the optics are bad. Satya is usually such a respected leader for knowing how to do the right thing and avoid these situations, bummer.
- joezydeco 4y agoIt was meant to be sarcastic. Sting performing a private concert in Davos is the farthest possible thing from a company picnic.
- 4y ago
- _zoltan_ 4y agoAaaand?
- wslh 4y agoThis is typical, companies are not a single organism perfectly synchronized. A few years ago, I rented a booth space at an event and the company at my side did a massive layoff that included the people in their booth... while the event was running.
- qbasic_forever 4y agoSo are you saying Microsoft execs need more... Synchronicity ? ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity_(The_Police_album) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity_(The_Police_al... )
- __derek__ 4y agoSatya and other top executives attended the concert, and they were also involved in the layoffs. In that one group, at least, we could expect some level of synchronization.
- wslh 4y agoProbably they couldn't tell the organization team
- inglor 4y agoI had this happen at a conference I helped organize where between the time we knew who signed up to sponsor and the conference a bunch of companies (mostly in crypto) who spent a lot of money on booths because they really needed help hiring went bankrupt. It was a still fun conference ^^
- aliqot 4y agoevery move you make..
- x86x87 4y agoI'll be watching you... Through the Teams spyware!
- philwelch 4y agoWas MSFT losing money and needing to reduce costs to survive, or did they just hire too many people over the past couple of years? I think it’s borderline embezzlement for a few dozen senior executives to use company money to hire Sting for a private concert in Davos in any event, but unless the company is straight up going broke, that’s irrelevant to the layoff issue even if the timing and optics look bad.
- birdymcbird 4y agoDavos is private gathering with politicians..media..celebrities. It saddening to see it not questioned enough. A private gathering—-people with agenda and means..capital media and celebrities—-to normalize and propagate that agenda. while these globalists say they want more open border they meeting in one of most exclusive country in the world where difficult to get citizenship. this also a grift. jason calacanis said on all in podcast how they offer him a seat at table for $25k or $40k some number like that in early 2000s.
- riskneutral 4y ago> Davos is private gathering with politicians..media..celebrities ... jason calacanis said on all in podcast how they offer him a seat at table for $25k or $40k some number like that in early 2000s. They're modern day "philosopher kings." This is the world that we live in. In the capitalist meritocracy in which we all live, money is an important point keeping system. So it makes sense that you have to buy a seat at the table and it costs a lot. I imagine that money alone is not enough merit to get a seat though, as there are many other measures of merit or social rank. I'm not sure how this can be effectively questioned. Ban private gatherings and private property? It's been tried before, didn't go well.
- yuppie_scum 4y agoIf you love someone, set them free
- jeisc 4y agowas having sting an inside joke on layoff day did he do a cover of the last good-bye