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Whew boy you hit the nail on the head. Google just seems to be aimless at this point, and now with the layoffs (despite their immense profitability) they're goi

Whew boy you hit the nail on the head. Google just seems to be aimless at this point, and now with the layoffs (despite their immense profitability) they're going to have a much tougher time hiring and retaining top talent.

cheeze 4y ago
Where is the top talent going to go? Seems like a vast majority of FAANG* ended up laying folks off.
- applecrazy 4y ago
  I would make the argument that top talent wasn’t the contingent that was laid off.
  - raydev 4y ago
    You would be provably wrong.
    - applecrazy 4y ago
      > provably wrong How so? I don't see any examples of top talent being fired (barring the scuffles at Twitter, but that isn't FAANG). Most people on my LinkedIn feed being let go are new grads or middle management who ostensibly didn't perform to company expectations of perfromance.
warning26 4y ago
I don't understand why the board hasn't ousted Sundar yet -- has he even spearheaded a single successful initiative that wasn't sunsetted within a few years? Seems like you could make an LLM generate product ideas and it would be about equally effective.
- tadfisher 4y ago
  Chrome and ChromeOS come to mind. But he wasn't CEO then.
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    As I recall (someone correct me on timing?) he was actually in charge of Chrome for a long time.
- daydream 4y ago
  > I don't understand why the board hasn't ousted Sundar yet They didn’t realize they were at war until about 3 months ago. That’s why. It takes time.
  - Corrado 4y ago
    This is why I think Google is in real trouble. They really don't recognize that they could fail. It's kinda like you can't smell yourself and don't realize you stink, until everyone leaves the party because of it.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  Offhand, I don't remember who's on Alphabet's board, but let's take two other leading candidates for Worst Board of All Time: Yahoo's: had an offer from Microsoft for ~$33B in 2004 or so, declined, and later hired Marissa Mayer. Eventually sold to Verizon for ~$4B. HP's: hired Carly Fiorina, Mark Hurd, Léo Apotheker, and then Meg Whitman Modern boards rarely act in any sort of timely manner.
  - evanelias 4y ago
    > Yahoo's: had an offer from Microsoft for ~$33B in 2004 or so, declined, and later hired Marissa Mayer. Eventually sold to Verizon for ~$4B. The former Yahoo assets that Verizon didn't purchase -- Yahoo Japan, plus a large stake in Alibaba, and several other investments -- were liquidated for a ~$40B total return to shareholders over the course of several years. So combined that's a 33% increase over Microsoft's offer. Obviously not a great return over like 15 years, but far from "worst board decision of all time" level either. Microsoft's 2004 board, on the other hand, I have to wonder what they were thinking...
pphysch 4y ago
Microsoft's GitHub, which is apparently at the forefront of the "LLM revolution" with Copilot, also announced significant cost-cuts. What's your point?
- bigfoot675 4y ago
  Totally unrelated point to the person you're replying to
  - pphysch 4y ago
    The topic of "layoffs" is, in fact, directly related to the topic of "layoffs and other cost-cutting". Google being "aimless" is pure speculation.

cheeze 4y ago

Where is the top talent going to go? Seems like a vast majority of FAANG* ended up laying folks off.

applecrazy 4y ago
I would make the argument that top talent wasn’t the contingent that was laid off.
- raydev 4y ago
  You would be provably wrong.
  - applecrazy 4y ago
    > provably wrong How so? I don't see any examples of top talent being fired (barring the scuffles at Twitter, but that isn't FAANG). Most people on my LinkedIn feed being let go are new grads or middle management who ostensibly didn't perform to company expectations of perfromance.

warning26 4y ago

I don't understand why the board hasn't ousted Sundar yet -- has he even spearheaded a single successful initiative that wasn't sunsetted within a few years? Seems like you could make an LLM generate product ideas and it would be about equally effective.

tadfisher 4y ago
Chrome and ChromeOS come to mind. But he wasn't CEO then.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  As I recall (someone correct me on timing?) he was actually in charge of Chrome for a long time.
daydream 4y ago
> I don't understand why the board hasn't ousted Sundar yet They didn’t realize they were at war until about 3 months ago. That’s why. It takes time.
- Corrado 4y ago
  This is why I think Google is in real trouble. They really don't recognize that they could fail. It's kinda like you can't smell yourself and don't realize you stink, until everyone leaves the party because of it.
AlbertCory 4y ago
Offhand, I don't remember who's on Alphabet's board, but let's take two other leading candidates for Worst Board of All Time: Yahoo's: had an offer from Microsoft for ~$33B in 2004 or so, declined, and later hired Marissa Mayer. Eventually sold to Verizon for ~$4B. HP's: hired Carly Fiorina, Mark Hurd, Léo Apotheker, and then Meg Whitman Modern boards rarely act in any sort of timely manner.
- evanelias 4y ago
  > Yahoo's: had an offer from Microsoft for ~$33B in 2004 or so, declined, and later hired Marissa Mayer. Eventually sold to Verizon for ~$4B. The former Yahoo assets that Verizon didn't purchase -- Yahoo Japan, plus a large stake in Alibaba, and several other investments -- were liquidated for a ~$40B total return to shareholders over the course of several years. So combined that's a 33% increase over Microsoft's offer. Obviously not a great return over like 15 years, but far from "worst board decision of all time" level either. Microsoft's 2004 board, on the other hand, I have to wonder what they were thinking...

pphysch 4y ago

Microsoft's GitHub, which is apparently at the forefront of the "LLM revolution" with Copilot, also announced significant cost-cuts. What's your point?

bigfoot675 4y ago
Totally unrelated point to the person you're replying to
- pphysch 4y ago
  The topic of "layoffs" is, in fact, directly related to the topic of "layoffs and other cost-cutting". Google being "aimless" is pure speculation.