With mass layoffs, Big Tech drops the good-guy act
. Clearly these cutbacks weren’t meant to forestall imminent calamity. Adding to the muddled picture is that right around the time of the announcement of layoffs at Google, Facebook and Amazon, their stocks gained back much of the value they had lost. The rebounded stock price can make the layoffs seem impulsive – were things really so bad after all?
Such a transition is surely meaningful. Beware Silicon Valley companies when they don’t even pretend to be following a more noble path in business. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was similarly high-minded to start. While still in college, and the social-networking website was“We can make a bunch of money – that’s not the goal,”
One prominent hedge-fund investor in Alphabet, not nearly satisfied by the layoffs announced, argued for immediate wage cuts. “Competition for talent in the technology industry has fallen significantly, allowing Alphabet to materially reduce compensation per employee,”wrote. The market had spoken on the value of Alphabet’s employees. Alphabet must follow. Based on its latest moves, it seemed inclined to agree.
In this way, Mr. Musk is a clarifying figure. He shows why Silicon Valley companies shouldn’t be allowed to self-regulate. They can’t be relied upon; all it takes is one leveraged buyout and the carefully tended defences against hate speech or conspiracy theories can be dismantled like so much scaffolding.
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