Big Tech’s Genius Minds All Made One Silly Mistake – Now Thousands Of Their Employees Are Paying The Price

Why do the CEOs of the world’s largest technology companies – the minds considered the world’s geniuses – believe that the explosive growth period of the Covid-19 era will continue forever?

Nothing is forever. We all know that.

At this stage, the world is in the midst of what has been described as a “bloodbath”, as tech giants lay off thousands of employees. This week, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Salesforce made major cuts, joining a group of tech businesses making staff cuts including Stripe, Snap, Netflix and Oracle.

The businesses of these companies are different but have one thing in common: they grow strongly as consumer demand for digital products and services skyrockets during the pandemic. Now that business is back to normal, interest rates and inflation have increased, bringing their good times to an end.

“As Covid-19 broke out in early 2020, the world went online rapidly and the dramatic rise of e-commerce led to outstanding revenue growth. many expect the acceleration to last forever even after the pandemic ends,” Zuckerberg wrote in a memo to employees about why he cut 11,000 jobs at Meta.

“Me too. So I have decided to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out the way I expected,” he wrote.

Mark Zuckerberg is not the only one to express similar thoughts. “We’ve hired too many people,” the Stripe founder wrote to employees, announcing the cuts of 1,000 jobs, or 14% of the workforce.

All of this raises a question? Why do the world’s top technology CEOs – who always make smart decisions based on access to mountains of valuable data – misjudge the situation?

In fact, in the first days of the pandemic, some companies paused hiring or cut staff as a cost-saving measure. They believe the pandemic will weaken the economy. “It will take much longer for the global economy to recover,” venture capital firm Sequoia wrote in a March 2022 memo warning startups of tough times ahead. before.

However, the opposite happened, as users spent more time shopping online, watching videos on YouTube or TikTok, playing games like Roblox or Among Us. More money is also pouring into the technology sector.

Tech startups have raised huge amounts of money, and major tech companies have seen their share prices skyrocket. Even the age-old PC industry has seen a miraculous renaissance as users rush to buy new devices for working remotely.

It’s easy to picture this sudden shift as a godsend for tech firms to pursue big ambitions . Low interest rates, high valuations, remote working offer unprecedented access to talent – ​​all like a turning point in tech history.

Online meeting applications like Zoom were once said to change the way users work.

Leaders like Oracle’s Larry Ellison have hailed online video calling tools like Zoom as an “essential service” that could forever change the way users work.

Soon, however, signs of the good times would not last appeared. Nearly a year ago, Zoom reported much lower growth than Wall Street expected when the Covid-19 vaccine became widespread and many economies reopened.

During the summer, Roblox said it expects to post a loss because young people spend more time outdoors. Technology still plays an important role in everyday life, but is no longer the “center of the universe”.

So, to a certain extent, it can be seen that the founders from Zuckerberg have “poured” money with the desire to create a permanent change for the technology world.

The positive thing is that Zuckerberg and other leaders are willing to admit their mistakes and forcefully correct them. However, their miscalculation has cost thousands of people with their own livelihoods.