Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's actions to curry favor with the president have rattled employees, but people familiar with his efforts say there's a clear strategy.
It’s pretty clear that billionaire owners of publicly traded companies will do whatever is needed to continue the “number goes up” philosophy of American capitalism. It’s the rot that underlies the whole economy. This isn’t to excuse Zuckerberg but this is America as a whole. The need to increase profits takes priority over bucking fascism, pulling back on vitriolic public discourse, stuffing hyped AI products into every crevice of tech, and pursuing monopolistic business practices. It’s all baked in. And it makes everything worse. No one is attempting to address which is why America is absolutely doomed to collapse. No one is willing to even have the conversation about corporate control/influence of government as well as the philosophy of delivering shareholder value.
Tech companies used to think that they were only limited by their ability to hire talented people. They went crazy competing for talent. That has changed. Obviously they no longer consider talent to be vital. Their businesses are more mature now and have network effects and lock-in. It’s kind of inevitable that tech companies would eventually reach that point. But I think it’s only true for the largest companies. Big tech souring on its employees is probably great news for a huge galaxy of small and midsize companies who’ve had no hope of attracting top talent for many years now. It really was impossible to compete with the pay, perks, and developer experience at a place like Meta. And that’s too bad because there are software business opportunities everywhere, still. Maybe this will be a good thing in the long run.
I don’t think they’re mature. I think they’re just monopolized to the point where they don’t need to innovate at all. And I don’t see this as a net positive because these companies are so gigantic that they will drive down salaries and benefits for the rest of the middle sized and smaller sized companies. The other problem is that any company that gets this big now has the purchasing power to eliminate competition further cornering the talent pool and the tech market. These guys are the new oil barons of our time and their oil is our data. Not sure how to see this as anything but negative.
don’t think they’re mature. I think they’re just monopolized to the point where they don’t need to innovate at all.
That’s exactly what I meant by “network effects and lock in.” You don’t achieve this without your business maturing, though I am not sure what you think of when you hear that word.
any company that gets this big now has the purchasing power to eliminate competition further cornering the talent pool and the tech market
This is what’s been going on for years already. Google used to hire people they didn’t even know what to do with simply because they could and would hinder comoetition. It’s hell trying to hire as a tier 2 company or small startup only to see everyone get offers for 3x from Google or Meta.
Their clear anti-staff sentiments now signal that this mad rush to acquire talent probably won’t continue as it’s been.
If demand from huge companies like Google and Meta slackens, that could lead to smaller companies offering less, but there’s a huge gap between the two right now. We’re taking about Meta outbidding by 2x going forward instead of 3x.
Not sure how to see this as anything but negative.
I’m getting that. And most people on here just think everything around tech is negative, negative, negative. Most who think this are on the outside looking in. I’ve been on the inside for 20 years, competing for hires with the likes of Meta and Google, and I think there might be at least one bright spot in their insane hiring slackening a bit.
It’s pretty clear that billionaire owners of publicly traded companies will do whatever is needed to continue the “number goes up” philosophy of American capitalism. It’s the rot that underlies the whole economy. This isn’t to excuse Zuckerberg but this is America as a whole. The need to increase profits takes priority over bucking fascism, pulling back on vitriolic public discourse, stuffing hyped AI products into every crevice of tech, and pursuing monopolistic business practices. It’s all baked in. And it makes everything worse. No one is attempting to address which is why America is absolutely doomed to collapse. No one is willing to even have the conversation about corporate control/influence of government as well as the philosophy of delivering shareholder value.
I wish we had some sort of way to incentivize dividend payouts, not just massive growth and stock numbers that go up.
Incentivizing dividend payments are the same problem. They will want to make them bigger every quarter.
Its just line goes up in a different form.
"…but this is billionaires, and American corporations as a whole. " FTFY. I’m not a corporation, and neither are you.
We participate in it with stock purchases. We voted for politicians that have systematically broken down American society this way.
Have you ever considered using what few measely dollars you have in support of local businesses, and people? Microloans? Stuff like that.
Yes. I try to buy local.
smae. I guess we’ll never be billionaires, nor corporations. And that’s ok.
Tech companies used to think that they were only limited by their ability to hire talented people. They went crazy competing for talent. That has changed. Obviously they no longer consider talent to be vital. Their businesses are more mature now and have network effects and lock-in. It’s kind of inevitable that tech companies would eventually reach that point. But I think it’s only true for the largest companies. Big tech souring on its employees is probably great news for a huge galaxy of small and midsize companies who’ve had no hope of attracting top talent for many years now. It really was impossible to compete with the pay, perks, and developer experience at a place like Meta. And that’s too bad because there are software business opportunities everywhere, still. Maybe this will be a good thing in the long run.
I don’t think they’re mature. I think they’re just monopolized to the point where they don’t need to innovate at all. And I don’t see this as a net positive because these companies are so gigantic that they will drive down salaries and benefits for the rest of the middle sized and smaller sized companies. The other problem is that any company that gets this big now has the purchasing power to eliminate competition further cornering the talent pool and the tech market. These guys are the new oil barons of our time and their oil is our data. Not sure how to see this as anything but negative.
That’s exactly what I meant by “network effects and lock in.” You don’t achieve this without your business maturing, though I am not sure what you think of when you hear that word.
This is what’s been going on for years already. Google used to hire people they didn’t even know what to do with simply because they could and would hinder comoetition. It’s hell trying to hire as a tier 2 company or small startup only to see everyone get offers for 3x from Google or Meta.
Their clear anti-staff sentiments now signal that this mad rush to acquire talent probably won’t continue as it’s been.
If demand from huge companies like Google and Meta slackens, that could lead to smaller companies offering less, but there’s a huge gap between the two right now. We’re taking about Meta outbidding by 2x going forward instead of 3x.
I’m getting that. And most people on here just think everything around tech is negative, negative, negative. Most who think this are on the outside looking in. I’ve been on the inside for 20 years, competing for hires with the likes of Meta and Google, and I think there might be at least one bright spot in their insane hiring slackening a bit.