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So one thing I was curious about is those who were laying off (at least the big 4) have xyz billions in the bank. If there is truly fat then it can be trimmed b

So one thing I was curious about is those who were laying off (at least the big 4) have xyz billions in the bank. If there is truly fat then it can be trimmed by either flattening the org, cutting down pay, changing work hours etc (nobody works just 40 hrs anymore). So the layoffs seem clearly for paying homage to wall st. What would happen if one of these CEOs grew a pair and held off and directed the fat to muscle? Yes their share price would fall in the short term but surely with the trillions and "toughening + austerity" wouldnt a company actually innovate and build more? It seems like the homage to wall st is needed because when CEOs go on their next play they need wall st for a good reference by the looks of it.

zmmmmm 4y ago
yep when you have billions in the bank, firing good staff is tantamount to an admission either that you have literally no good ideas for how to grow the business or that you have a 100% short term view. In either case it ought to be a humliating admission for the leadership of a tech company to make to its investors.
- gtirloni 4y ago
  > it ought to be a humliating admission for the leadership of a tech company to make to its investors. They usually "take full responsibility and the heavy burden" of doing the layoffs. It's like they are the ones suffering more. It's heart breaking.
captaincaveman 4y ago
Cutting staff is not going to reduce their revenue for some time, and in the interim their profits increase and thus defends the stock price at a time the tech sector is getting reassessed (valuations are too high, and need adjusting). The point is, it has nothing to do with having money in the bank to pay them.
HDThoreaun 4y ago
Most big tech companies doubled staffing over the pandemic because they saw a 10% chance that people would continue to spend much more time online after the pandemic and they didn't want to miss the opportunities associated with that. They knew that if things went back to normal they could just lay all the extra people off and return to normal and the costs associated with that were worth the 10% chance to see massive growth. The idea that there was some sort of mistake seems pretty naive to me. Meta doesn't employ fortune tellers, they just react to the probabilities they see.
ulfw 4y ago
I don't see Apple doing mass layoffs.

zmmmmm 4y ago

yep when you have billions in the bank, firing good staff is tantamount to an admission either that you have literally no good ideas for how to grow the business or that you have a 100% short term view. In either case it ought to be a humliating admission for the leadership of a tech company to make to its investors.

gtirloni 4y ago
> it ought to be a humliating admission for the leadership of a tech company to make to its investors. They usually "take full responsibility and the heavy burden" of doing the layoffs. It's like they are the ones suffering more. It's heart breaking.

captaincaveman 4y ago

Cutting staff is not going to reduce their revenue for some time, and in the interim their profits increase and thus defends the stock price at a time the tech sector is getting reassessed (valuations are too high, and need adjusting). The point is, it has nothing to do with having money in the bank to pay them.

HDThoreaun 4y ago

Most big tech companies doubled staffing over the pandemic because they saw a 10% chance that people would continue to spend much more time online after the pandemic and they didn't want to miss the opportunities associated with that. They knew that if things went back to normal they could just lay all the extra people off and return to normal and the costs associated with that were worth the 10% chance to see massive growth. The idea that there was some sort of mistake seems pretty naive to me. Meta doesn't employ fortune tellers, they just react to the probabilities they see.

ulfw 4y ago

I don't see Apple doing mass layoffs.