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Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

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Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#22

I really hope Snap's struggles as a public company don't effect other "Unicorns" going public. Judging from Spotify's weird IPO filing I think other companies are getting spooked.

Me too, but for a different reason. I feel like many privately held unicorns aren't really worth as much as their last VC investment would imply. If we get more of these companies publicly traded then we can see how much they are really worth, bringing a much needed correction to the tech startup investment scene. It's starting to look like the year 2000, but instead of a dot com bubble we have an "Uber for x" bubble and a couple other templates that get way too much investment money.

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#24

34 Million a year for 220 employees? I know that includes office space, equipment, and benefits, but that still seems like a lot to me. Edit: I must have had a brain fart when I wrote this, because I was thinking over a million per employee. Now it seems too low.

Not really, that's only $155k per person. The cost per engineer is probably around $400k.

I feel so underpaid right now it's not even funny.

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, that's only $155k per person. The cost per engineer is probably around $400k.

I feel so underpaid right now it's not even funny.

Even considering insurance/benefits, stock options, and various bonuses, 400K/year is a lot more compared to 150K.

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#26
post #17
post #7

So SNAP lays off another 7% of their workforce to save $34M a year whilst their CEO pockets $638M in compensation (3rd highest CEO payout ever) before they're remotely close to profitability. Not sure if company-wide layoffs and paying their CEO more are going to achieve their growth/profitability aspirations.

The logical conclusion of today's corporate structure is a company with a single employee, the CEO, who is paid all the profits, while all the actual labour is performed by zero-hour sub-minimum-wage contractors, all either funded by VC money or floated but posting zero dividends.

If the service can be implemented as a decentralized autonomous corporation running on a Blockchain you might not even need the CEO.

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#27
post #7

So SNAP lays off another 7% of their workforce to save $34M a year whilst their CEO pockets $638M in compensation (3rd highest CEO payout ever) before they're remotely close to profitability. Not sure if company-wide layoffs and paying their CEO more are going to achieve their growth/profitability aspirations.

You're conflating two very different things as it pertains to their actual business. The CEO compensation is coming from diluting shareholders, he's receiving stock compensation there. That $638m doesn't cost them cash. Is it morally obnoxious to be rewarding an outsized pay package on a business that is financially struggling to survive? Of course, it's reprehensible in my opinion, however that value judgment is ent…

I don't see how they are "very different things". That stock has a monetary value, does it not?

They could offer it to their employees in exchange for a salary reduction totaling those $34M/year.

Alternatively, they could have sold that stock.

Or taken a loan using that stock as collateral.

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the 10/20/30/40 vesting schedule which companies like Snap have is so problematic. What?! I've never heard of this, other companies follow this madness? Who are they so I can stay away?

Amazon, actually. It's something like 5/15/40/40, maybe a current/former employee can chime in.

Yep, it's still that, even for acquired companies that are owned by Amazon.

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#29

This is why the 10/20/30/40 vesting schedule which companies like Snap have is so problematic. Snap is laying people off and are saying that they expect to save a large amount of costs related to stock based compensation because of it (given they are a business I don't blame them for this line of thinking). However, from the laid off employee perspective this is pretty bad: 1) they worked hard to get Snap to this poi…

> 10/20/30/40 vesting schedule

What does this mean?

Re: Snap expects layoffs to save $34M a year

#30
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The logical conclusion of today's corporate structure is a company with a single employee, the CEO, who is paid all the profits, while all the actual labour is performed by zero-hour sub-minimum-wage contractors, all either funded by VC money or floated but posting zero dividends.

If the service can be implemented as a decentralized autonomous corporation running on a Blockchain you might not even need the CEO.

Who can then pocket all the money?
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