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coldtea parent
From the perspective of the company/stock market yes.

From the other perspective, 1 fired person is a lot for a family - especially in a bad economy

jjeaff
it's certainly not a bad economy right now. Record low unemployment, record high stock market prices. Inflation is back to reasonable rates. Prices are inflated, but that alone does not define the economy.
Rinzler89
The problem is firings almost always happen in bad economies and rarely in good economies.
squigz
Microsoft made $146 billion in profit last year. Terrible economy.
Rinzler89
Yes, and? They're in no obligation to share that profit with the workers. They're bound to providing value to their shareholders. If the firings don't negatively impact profits or share value, then where's the problem (for Microsoft) if this is the behavior that shareholders reward right now?
squigz
I was responding to GP's assertion that firings like this only happen in bad economies. My point was that it's hard to believe it's a bad economy when they made $146b in profit.
Rinzler89
The global economy is bad, but not Microsoft's profits. Hence firings. You can make profits in a bad economy.
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mdhb
Who the fuck wants to actually live in that kind of world as an employee?
Rinzler89
Looking at the payroll of Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Apple, etc. a lot of people apparently. Are you new to the labor market or how for-profit publicly listed companies work? Or do you think your company cares more about you than it does about its profits.
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coldtea OP
>Yes, and? They're in no obligation to share that profit with the workers. They're bound to providing value to their shareholders

Yes, and?

You're describing the state of things and the law as if that makes it a good thing and an optimal situation. It's neither.

All kinds of very good things were no legal obligation for businesses to perform (like no obligation to not use child labor, or to have filters in your factory's chimneys), and all kinds of very bad things were an obligation for businesses to do (like seggregated areas), at different times.

Rinzler89
Microsoft laying off some people and child labor are in nowhere comparable. You lost the argument here. What's next, are you gonna compare getting a traffic fine to the holocaust?

If they want to, Microsoft employees could unionize to make sure the company can never fire any of them, but of course that would mean saying goodbye to all those juicy jobs with compensation packages that make big-tech and the US attractive places for lucrative business in the first place.

Nobody forces you to choose to go work at Microsoft or any big-tech that focuses on pleasing Wallstreet. People go work there because they chase wealth building and that comes with higher risks. You can go work at your local mom & pop SW shop if you want a cushy job for life. Of course you won't get a 400k TC package to buy that dream house either.

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