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Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

coindesk.com

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#151

Post by spullara »

ipnon wrote: post #84
Johnny555 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep pointing to Armstrong's $110M house like it's some sort of injustice. If you think billionaires should exist at all, then that's one of the least-bad injustices imaginable Ok, I'll admit it, billionaires should not exist at all, there should be a heavy wealth tax that makes it hard to become a billionaire. Will a CEO work less hard if he (and his peers) can only ever gain $100M in net worth before a wealt…

Billionaires are highly correlated with millionaires, which don't seem to be beyond the pale for critics of wealth inequality. Countries with billionaires rank much higher on quality of life than those without. It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts but the side effect of their wealth is companies like Amazon and Tesla that have a net positive effect on society in terms of products and employment.

I'm not as wealthy as them but I have never, ever had this feeling: "It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts" Why does that hurt anyone? Doesn't it just help the people that make yachts and work on them?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#153

Post by Apocryphon »

jstanley wrote: post #148
SantalBlush wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then another entrepreneur who hasn't yet made $100M can start a business in the same space. If the market can bear both businesses, then they both win. If it can't, then they're in direct competition and we're still better off. This actually sounds better than what we have now: monopoly as the end goal.

Then why don't we set the cutoff at £10k instead so that the very poorest have a chance? Or set the cutoff at just above the poorest person's net worth. When they make some money they won't be the poorest any more and next year it will be updated to the new poorest person's net worth. That way we make sure everybody has a fair chance at getting rich. Or is it possible that those who have a demonstrated history of wea…

Sure, we can start by applying that cutoff on those with the most £10k's to spare.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#154

Post by hardtke »

tuckerpo wrote: post #36
sillysaurusx wrote: post #15

I think if employees feel slighted by being fired, they're fooling themselves. The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. It gives you clarity and purpose. It also happens to be the truth. Coinbase was also extremely generous with severance. 12 weeks plus two for every one year at the company, I think. I've had the experience of being let go without notice and without severance. Devs seem a little more griz…

Anecdote: I had an old co-worker who was given 6 month's notice that he'd be let go from a previous job, and his manager at the time helped him look for a new gig + gave him shining reviews and references. After the 6 month period was up, they still gave him several months of severance, even after he had found a new gig. Some companies/managers actually do care about you, and it seems like Coinbase is roughly in that…

I've been chatting with some friends whose company shut down recently, basically with no warning. They are getting recruited like crazy. In my opinion that's much preferable than to being left go as part of the 20% lowest performing employees. This reads like a "culling of the herd because we can use the alleged upcoming recession as an excuse" event. I'm not sure the generous severance makes up for the "you are not in the top 80%" label.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#155

Post by ipnon »

hetspookjee wrote: post #136
ipnon wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My claim is that if these companies weren't useful than they wouldn't exist. People hate Bezos but they spend their money at Amazon. Methinks they doth protest too much!

You could argue the same for the likes of Philip Morris or the Sackler families business. Just that people are very willing to buy a product doesn’t imply that it’s good. So I wouldn’t raise the fact that folks buying Amazon or Tesla products as a pointer that their products are any good perse.

I think so. Cigarettes are enjoyable and Oxycodone is on the World Health Organization's Essential Medicine list.[1] You can also drive your Tesla off a cliff, or attack someone with a knife you bought from Amazon. The possibility of risky behavior doesn't necessarily make a thing useless.

In the interest of full disclosure I enjoy the occasional cigar.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxycodone

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#157

Post by lr4444lr »

Johnny555 wrote: post #45
sillysaurusx wrote: post #15

I think if employees feel slighted by being fired, they're fooling themselves. The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. It gives you clarity and purpose. It also happens to be the truth. Coinbase was also extremely generous with severance. 12 weeks plus two for every one year at the company, I think. I've had the experience of being let go without notice and without severance. Devs seem a little more griz…

People keep pointing to Armstrong's $110M house like it's some sort of injustice. If you think billionaires should exist at all, then that's one of the least-bad injustices imaginable Ok, I'll admit it, billionaires should not exist at all, there should be a heavy wealth tax that makes it hard to become a billionaire. Will a CEO work less hard if he (and his peers) can only ever gain $100M in net worth before a wealt…

It's not how hard they work - it's the risk-adjusted decisions they're willing to take.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#158

Post by biofox »

flashgordon wrote: post #122
tomcam wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much money should people be allowed to have?

Ok let me take a stab at it. I actually am on the fence on this so purely a thought exercise for me. Plus as someone getting into midlife crisis this has been on top of mind for me. How about take (in no order): 1. 1 or 2 fancy cars/suvs 2. Be able to travel business class (say once a month) for vacations and stay in decent hotels 3. Nice education (say 2 degrees at a top college) 4. Nice house (say 2 rooms per famil…

What if I have all that, but also have a great idea for a business. Let's say I want to try it out, but to do so I'll need to hire some industrial space, expensive equipment, 5-10 engineers, and some business / marketing people to get it going. Should I have to risk my standard of living to do that?

What if I have 10 ideas that require that?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#159

Post by kamikaz1k »

objclxt wrote: post #141
sillysaurusx wrote: post #15

I think if employees feel slighted by being fired, they're fooling themselves. The best mindset is that you could be gone tomorrow. It gives you clarity and purpose. It also happens to be the truth. Coinbase was also extremely generous with severance. 12 weeks plus two for every one year at the company, I think. I've had the experience of being let go without notice and without severance. Devs seem a little more griz…

> Coinbase was also extremely generous with severance. 12 weeks plus two for every one year at the company, I think [...] Three and a half months of dev salary is pretty incredible. ...literally this is the minimum they can get away with in some jurisdictions. It's illegal in plenty of countries to conduct mass layoffs without either a consultation period or putting people on garden leave (i.e, severance).

Can you cite a few example jurisdictions? I am just curious because I've seen less before, even for companies with international presence.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#160

Post by robby_w_g »

ipnon wrote: post #84
Johnny555 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep pointing to Armstrong's $110M house like it's some sort of injustice. If you think billionaires should exist at all, then that's one of the least-bad injustices imaginable Ok, I'll admit it, billionaires should not exist at all, there should be a heavy wealth tax that makes it hard to become a billionaire. Will a CEO work less hard if he (and his peers) can only ever gain $100M in net worth before a wealt…

Billionaires are highly correlated with millionaires, which don't seem to be beyond the pale for critics of wealth inequality. Countries with billionaires rank much higher on quality of life than those without. It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts but the side effect of their wealth is companies like Amazon and Tesla that have a net positive effect on society in terms of products and employment.

> It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts but the side effect of their wealth is companies like Amazon and Tesla that have a net positive effect on society in terms of products and employment.

Corporations have a net positive effect on society, so we should sit by and watch the dragons add to their hoard? They don't need a billion dollars, it's just a video game to these people. They want to increase their high scores so they can be top of the leaderboard.

Also, millionaires include people who saved a million dollars over their lifespan in order to retire. Retirees need that money if they want to live a modest lifestyle, pay for unexpected (or really expected at that age) health care costs, and support their grandchildren. It's a luxury we'd all be lucky to have and tragically many people weren't able to achieve. Add in an order of magnitude and what more do you get? What value does a person add to the world when they have a billion dollars instead of a million?

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