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Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

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Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#111

It is sad but also was inevitable. The market could only sustain $150,000 a year salaries for grads fresh out of college for so long before someone somewhere along the way ran out of money. With rates going up there are places besides tech people can hope to park their money, the VC funding is going to disappear and with it some of the distortion of the market for developers. Just a reminder though this happened befo…

If I’m doing the math right, revenue is slightly more than $1,400,000 per employee. If at all, $150k is underpaying employees.

Yes, the comments pointing out the supposedly too high salaries for tech workers are always hilarious + 150k is really not anything crazy wrt COL in large US cities

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#112

Does Facebook spend any sort of money on R&D? I just can't fathom a company that once had a near trillion dollar market cap, not spending any of their resources to try to find their next big revenue stream. They should have been able to pivot to a plan B, (or C,D,E... etc). If you point to their 3d ventures, well, I've never seen it in person, so they are doing a lousy job of marketing it.

Google has been trying to diversify for over a decade. They are still mostly an ads company.

To be fair, cash cows pay a lot

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#113
post #60
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at Yahoo! when the company offered to acquire Facebook for $1.4 billion. Most thought Zuck was a fool to pass on that. He 300x’d it in 10 years.

And just think all it took was a couple of genocides, breaking society and becoming one of the most despised people in the world.

I’m not really sure if I agree with this argument against Facebook. It’s true that Facebook had a part in this, but the same can be said for any kind of media for any given historical conflict.

Here’s an article describing the effect radio had on the rise of Hitler: https://daily.jstor.org/an-affordable-radio-brought-nazi-pro...

A few years before these genocides, western media were praising Facebook for its role in the uprisings in the Middle East. It was seen as a force for good, allowing people to self organise against dictatorial regimes.

Hell, back in the day the printing press pretty much brought down all of the power structures at the time, because suddenly people had more free access to information.

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Metaverse could be the next big thing and the long shot facebook needs. I'm skeptical. With all their money and knowledge and whatnot, they've only managed to create something that looks like a dated console party game but not more. I don't see how that's the future. Furthermore, do they expect everyone to buy a... say... $400 headset to use the Metaverse? The low entry barrier was probably one of the biggest reaso…

have you ever heard of the concept of iterations? do you remember how the first mobile phone looked like? do you remember how the first computer looked like? first laptop ? first electric car ? that's the point of R&D and long shot, if it was possible already it's not a long shot :/

It's 2022 and we have powerful 3D engines for computer games since years. No need for FB to reinvent the Wii look if ask me.

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#115
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is still a fool. He says he wakes up everyday felling like he is getting punched in the stomach. What more proof do you need?

You don't have to like the man but, I think it's pretty clear that running any global social media company is miserable and filled with impossible decisions + people who will hate you no matter what choices you make. It sounds like many social media CEOs would agree that it's like getting punched in the stomach every day

I am worth 1/billion of his net worth and every morning when I wake up I feel like I am getting punched in the stomach.

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#116
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes genocides. Facebook played a pivotal role in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar. They even admitted to that, but nobody gives a flying f.

Snail mail played a vital role in the administrations of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Is that different or comparable?

No that's different. What would be closer was IBM working with the Nazis:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#117
post #67

Firing low performers isn't a layoff. Several major companies like Amazon do this every 6-12 months, and it doesn't exactly make the news. While 15% might be extreme (and there's no reason to believe that will be the actual number) I don't think anyone can argue that Facebook has a LOT of fat that they can trim without material impact to any of their projects. Same goes for every other large company (Google for examp…

15% of a workforce isn't a layoff?

Companies always justify layoffs as clearing out dead wood/firing low performers etc etc, but the reality is once you start this sort of massive layoff good people will get caught in the crossfire (what if your department has no dead wood but you need to cut 1 in 10 people?), your best people leave, everyone else is dispirited and fearful and morale tanks.

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#118
They going to carry that culture into any new company they go. You can already feel the likes of discord getting dark patterned, ABtested and starting to die. Sorry to say it, but no matter the skill, if you worked at FB, you might not actually be a culture fit for many companys, who want to grow beyond local minima.

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#119
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is still a fool. He says he wakes up everyday felling like he is getting punched in the stomach. What more proof do you need?

You don't have to like the man but, I think it's pretty clear that running any global social media company is miserable and filled with impossible decisions + people who will hate you no matter what choices you make. It sounds like many social media CEOs would agree that it's like getting punched in the stomach every day

He has the opportunity to opt out of this life and coast by practically every day.

> many social media CEOs

"We experts of X recommend X."

Re: Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees

#120
post #60
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at Yahoo! when the company offered to acquire Facebook for $1.4 billion. Most thought Zuck was a fool to pass on that. He 300x’d it in 10 years.

And just think all it took was a couple of genocides, breaking society and becoming one of the most despised people in the world.

Yes, but evil people started cutting the internet and the show had to continue (more restricted) on other stages. They learned nothing from Cambridge Analityca scandal.
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