2024 has seen two mass layoffs at Microsoft, with 1900 staff laid off in January, before a further 650 Xbox employees were shown the door in September.

Regardless, Microsoft’s shares are up and the company’s market value is now higher than $3tn, as it works to capitalise on the rise of AI.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    When I entered the work force in 2005, it was with a company that had never had a layoff in its thirty-year history.

    Then, in 2009, they had their first layoff, and I learned later our CEO had taken an 80% pay raise that year.

    Taxes aren’t theft. Literally firing people and taking their salaries is theft.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      23 minutes ago

      Taxes are theft the specific way they are designed in most countries.

      Another example of theft is a hired administrator administrating by the criterion of their own pay.

      I mean, it is understandable how this works - their pay is a counterweight to the incentive to “mismanage” the company if someone else pays a fitting price. The issue here is that these two incentives do not completely neutralize each other, in some dimension their components add up.

      Why I had to say that taxes are still theft - because a CEO is equivalent to a state official in this issue. It’s the same problem.

      Political ideologies divide these problems, because political ideologies are like hedge funds, they diversify investments, so that every political ideology could be usable in every landscape for every policy. They are the opposite of consistent, by design.

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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    31 minutes ago

    Thank god, all these employees lost their jobs so Satya Nadella can pad out their already insanely high salary.

    We don’t want Satya to starve like the rest us of plebs!

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Typical and most people in the US view CEO’s as heroes. US income distribution is on the same level as fucking Russia.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      7 minutes ago

      As someone from fucking Russia, people with biggest income in your country are usually first businessmen, second - something else, while in Russia those would be cockroaches from MFA, PA and other thieves, plus a few oligarchs who at some point were among those cockroaches.

      So it may not be as bad yet, but frankly yes, you are giving out vibes of going in the same direction.

    • P1nkman@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Per year. And lets not talk about his stock options and other benefits… Fucking disgusting.

  • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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    7 hours ago

    The board doesn’t care about the number of people employed. They care about the current profitability and future profitability.

    Of course that’s their job; to look after shareholder interests. And the money would move to a better investment if they didn’t.

    It’s the whole system you need to change, if you seek change, not moan about an individual CEO.

    • weew@lemmy.ca
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      8 hours ago

      If they were software engineers, they saved $200,000+ per person laid off

      That’s how he makes dem big bux, by telling other people to fuck off

    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Sounds like an easy sell to the board, then. It it’s that much of a net positive in economics.

  • OutrageousUmpire@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    He deserves it. He made the deal to own 49% of OpenAI, which is quickly becoming one of the most valuable companies of all time.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Well his compensation is tied to the stock price so it’s not exactly a “raise.” My employer’s stock is near an all time high right now so I’m not complaining about how much I made from the shares I sold, but neither do I consider it a “raise” because it’s not guaranteed to be the same next year.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        At my last company, they usually gave end-of-the-year bonuses instead of raises. They were pretty generous, usually amounting to about half of our annual salaries, but it of course prevented us from being guaranteed that level of compensation the following year. That’s why I always describe bonuses as raises followed by pay cuts.

        • scarabic@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Yeah pretty much. Everything about it is a hedge. They can pay less if their numbers tell them to. They can lay you off and not give you anything. They can make more cash disappear if they have to. It’s the squirrelliest shit yet they cast it like a gift from god.

        • iii@mander.xyz
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          9 hours ago

          I’m self employed.

          Found out I’m depressed, decided to reduce work to 3 days a week.

          Raised prices to reduce clients. Turns out I now make more, doing less work. It is what it is.

          • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            I once quit my job at a software company I really hated. They were desperate to keep me around for the projects I was leading so they asked if I would work hourly for a while. I quoted them a go-fuck-yourselves hourly rate which they immediately agreed to, which made me even more angry about my prior years of poor compensation. I worked under this agreement for about half a year and further improved my effective hourly rate by not working very hard.