5 ms·

> The fact is, if I wanted to pay you, I could. I could even give you raises. But once again, that is not the economic reality we face. And so we must make hard

> The fact is, if I wanted to pay you, I could. I could even give you raises. But once again, that is not the economic reality we face. And so we must make hard choices. True...contrast Microsoft's decision to take an $800m hit in letting go 10,000 employees with its earnings report showing $16.4b operating profits.

pbhjpbhj 4y ago
"I saved the company $800M, I should get 10% of that"?
- htrp 4y ago
  >"I saved the company $800M, I should get 10% of that" Only at the executive tier.
  - AtlasBarfed 4y ago
    At your level, you get a plaque. A cheap one. Plastic, maybe some aluminum.
    - kneebonian 4y ago
      Relevant Dilbert: https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-09-16 https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-09-16
lowercased 4y ago
Some analysts were expecting $18b in operating profits - can't you see how much loss MSFT just incurred? EDIT: /s
- p0pcult 4y ago
  Youre getting downvoted, but perhaps you meant this as satire? Poe's Law and all...
  - eweise 4y ago
    Seems obvious to me that its satire.
    - p0pcult 4y ago
      Thanks, but I didn't ask you, because you didn't write it. I think it is satire, but sometimes one can't really know. It is undoubtedly a position that some people hold that missed revenue/profit estimates are akin to losses. Hence, Poe's Law.
- shapefrog 4y ago
  Its not actual satire though ... Missing analyst expectations is a massive failure of management, they set the guidance and the expectations for the market; thus missing it by 2bn is actually a pretty poor performance.
  - lowercased 4y ago
    Say company X issues guidance of $1.34/share Analysts expect $1.40/share. Company X releases earnings of $1.45/share. Things still tank, because... the "real" expectation was 5% over analyst expectations, which was already over guidance.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - petrocrat 4y ago
      Why is nobody questioning the analysts methods and models? Are they using DSGE economics models? I'm sure there's plenty of angles of criticism for their tools if one digs a bit.
binarymax 4y ago
Even harsher is that on the same day Microsoft laid off their staff, they announced a 10B investment in OpenAI.
- anthonypasq 4y ago
  how is that harsh? its just common sense that giant corps restructure and move their talent and assets around as the world changes, otherwise half of Microsoft would still be working on Windows and we'd be laughing at them. layoffs arent always about cutting costs, its usually about restructuring and reprioritizing
- brookst 4y ago
  Couple days apart, and they announced an investment, but the $10B figure is rumors. Could be right, could be wrong. But so what? There’s no gotcha here; it’s not like Microsoft or Google or Amazon claimed they were cash poor and could t afford to pay people. They are changing the areas they spend money in. Would it be better if they were only cutting back and not also investing in new areas?
  - t-writescode 4y ago
    The comment thread you're responding to is reflecting on how painful it is to be laid off when: * showing profits * showing multi-billion in investments in new companies * when the money saved is tiny compared to the increased year-over-year profits on a topic that's a short story in the form of a letter written by someone pretending to be a CEO and telling the story's real truth about a layoff: that they don't feel like paying the reader anymore. "But so what?" Their response is _exactly_ on topic. There is a real sting on these human lives where a company has decided they don't have value relative some new tech purchase. This is contrary to particular ethics frameworks many of us are familiar with around human value.
    - brookst 4y ago
      Apologies if I sounded like I was unsympathetic to the people. I’ve been laid off, I know it hurts. But I guess I don’t see how empathizing with that means. . . What? Microsoft should cancel an investment they think is strategic? Microsoft should keep job roles they no longer things are important? Highly profitable companies like Microsoft are not zero sum. Nobody said “let’s lay people off so that we can invest in openAI”. Each decision is made independently, for its own ROI. If they believed that keeping these people and making the investment was the best approach, they have the funds to do so, easily. I love the McSweeney’s piece, and I’m sympathetic to those laid off, I just don’t get the innuendo that a company should do something differently.

pbhjpbhj 4y ago

"I saved the company $800M, I should get 10% of that"?

htrp 4y ago
>"I saved the company $800M, I should get 10% of that" Only at the executive tier.
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago
  At your level, you get a plaque. A cheap one. Plastic, maybe some aluminum.
  - kneebonian 4y ago
    Relevant Dilbert: https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-09-16 https://dilbert.com/strip/1993-09-16

lowercased 4y ago

Some analysts were expecting $18b in operating profits - can't you see how much loss MSFT just incurred? EDIT: /s

p0pcult 4y ago
Youre getting downvoted, but perhaps you meant this as satire? Poe's Law and all...
- eweise 4y ago
  Seems obvious to me that its satire.
  - p0pcult 4y ago
    Thanks, but I didn't ask you, because you didn't write it. I think it is satire, but sometimes one can't really know. It is undoubtedly a position that some people hold that missed revenue/profit estimates are akin to losses. Hence, Poe's Law.
shapefrog 4y ago
Its not actual satire though ... Missing analyst expectations is a massive failure of management, they set the guidance and the expectations for the market; thus missing it by 2bn is actually a pretty poor performance.
- lowercased 4y ago
  Say company X issues guidance of $1.34/share Analysts expect $1.40/share. Company X releases earnings of $1.45/share. Things still tank, because... the "real" expectation was 5% over analyst expectations, which was already over guidance.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - petrocrat 4y ago
    Why is nobody questioning the analysts methods and models? Are they using DSGE economics models? I'm sure there's plenty of angles of criticism for their tools if one digs a bit.

binarymax 4y ago

Even harsher is that on the same day Microsoft laid off their staff, they announced a 10B investment in OpenAI.

anthonypasq 4y ago
how is that harsh? its just common sense that giant corps restructure and move their talent and assets around as the world changes, otherwise half of Microsoft would still be working on Windows and we'd be laughing at them. layoffs arent always about cutting costs, its usually about restructuring and reprioritizing
brookst 4y ago
Couple days apart, and they announced an investment, but the $10B figure is rumors. Could be right, could be wrong. But so what? There’s no gotcha here; it’s not like Microsoft or Google or Amazon claimed they were cash poor and could t afford to pay people. They are changing the areas they spend money in. Would it be better if they were only cutting back and not also investing in new areas?
- t-writescode 4y ago
  The comment thread you're responding to is reflecting on how painful it is to be laid off when: * showing profits * showing multi-billion in investments in new companies * when the money saved is tiny compared to the increased year-over-year profits on a topic that's a short story in the form of a letter written by someone pretending to be a CEO and telling the story's real truth about a layoff: that they don't feel like paying the reader anymore. "But so what?" Their response is _exactly_ on topic. There is a real sting on these human lives where a company has decided they don't have value relative some new tech purchase. This is contrary to particular ethics frameworks many of us are familiar with around human value.
  - brookst 4y ago
    Apologies if I sounded like I was unsympathetic to the people. I’ve been laid off, I know it hurts. But I guess I don’t see how empathizing with that means. . . What? Microsoft should cancel an investment they think is strategic? Microsoft should keep job roles they no longer things are important? Highly profitable companies like Microsoft are not zero sum. Nobody said “let’s lay people off so that we can invest in openAI”. Each decision is made independently, for its own ROI. If they believed that keeping these people and making the investment was the best approach, they have the funds to do so, easily. I love the McSweeney’s piece, and I’m sympathetic to those laid off, I just don’t get the innuendo that a company should do something differently.