From WSJ - big tech not doing great so far this year

Feb 29, 2024, 3:13 PM

Tech Layoffs Keep Coming. Why Is Head Count Barely Budging?

Microsoft, M-eta and Amazon are among the companies dwarfing their old selves, despite announcing hefty job cuts

Consider Microsoft. In January, the software giant said it would cut 1,900 jobs in its videogame unit, after promising to shed some 11,370 in three layoff announcements last year.

Job cuts announced in January targeted employees of Activision Blizzard, which employed about 13,000 people before it was acquired by Microsoft in October. Activision employees weren’t reflected in Microsoft’s most recently disclosed employment figures.

Most of Microsoft’s head-count growth appears to have come outside the U.S., where 101,000 people worked for the company at its fiscal year-end, up more than 70% from 2019. A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the company’s securities

A similar hiring boom occurred at Alphabet. Google’s parent company employed 182,502 people at the end of last year, up more than 63,000 from 2019.

That increase includes Alphabet’s employment levels falling about 8,000 last year. Since early 2023, Alphabet has said it would cut more than 12,000 jobs at Google and other business lines.

An Alphabet spokeswoman said the company is seeking to simplify its structure to become more efficient and focus resources on its biggest product categories.

Apple workforce fell slightly during its fiscal year ended in September to about 161,000 people. That figure was up about 24,000 from four years earlier. Apple has largely avoided the high-profile layoffs that other big tech companies have announced. This week it scrapped plans to build an electric car, a move that would shift some jobs but could result in layoffs.

####, Facebook’s parent company, slashed its workforce last year by about 22%, or 19,000. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg trumpeted plans for a “year of efficiency” in March last year, when the company said it would cut 10,000 jobs, following the announcement of 11,000 job cuts in November 2022.

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I said years ago that companies who have high counts of offshore folks

Also - hiring was a pissing contest in Big Tech as well for several years

It’s was how to rise up the ranks.

Basically hiring managers just kept hiring whether demand was there or not and then competitors followed.

You are M3TA (then FB) and things are going pretty good and you’ve got opening for headcount. In reality, you need maybe one half FTE but the more people underneath you the bette the chances to get promoted. So you over hire because you can. This is widespread over the company. Overall company still making a shitload and poised for more growth - and salaries going crazy because ….

Some a$$hole at Netflix hears that FB is hiring like crazy. Well, for phucksake Netflix doesn’t need THAT many new hires but if they don’t start over hiring too then they will not be viewed as attractively within the industry as well as Wall Street because not hiring as quickly as FB.

D1ck head hiring manager at Google is hearing how FB and Netflix throwing pantload of $$$$ and stock out for new hires because there is just so much demand. Google doesn’t really need THAT many new hires but FB and Netflix are hiring like crazy AND they are driving up salaries. So hiring manager writes up a REQ for five FTE to double his/her group.

Now multiply by many hiring managers wanting to get promoted to obtain even more insane wages times so many companies flush with cheap cash and you get a lot of fat.

Another in part Covid related hangover.

Re: From WSJ - big tech not doing great so far this year

From WSJ - big tech not doing great so far this year

Re: From WSJ - big tech not doing great so far this year

I said years ago that companies who have high counts of offshore folks

Offshoring labor... Offshoring profits and taxes.***

Those 100% remote workers making 6 figures sure are worth it...

That's rarely how it works, but hold on to that if you want.***

We've pulled back on the work we offshore, mainly because there is a very

Also - hiring was a pissing contest in Big Tech as well for several years

Re: From WSJ - big tech not doing great so far this year

Depends on what you are getting customer service on

All the dudes I've talked with sound like "Apu" on the Simpsons....

Re: From WSJ - big tech not doing great so far this year

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