Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

Post by matdehaast » Thu, May 04, 2023, 12:53 PM UTC

FredPret wrote: post #32

nus07 wrote: post #9

Last time I read a very reassuring and cogent letter by the CEO of Shopify about the layoffs . But at no point did the letter hint at further layoffs no less 20% which is huge. Wondering what the explanation is this time. I understand everyone has their worth and price but I fail to see how management and leadership at companies still have jobs and huge bonuses. Reaganomics has had 35 years. Maybe we need a new visio…

The CEO's job is to deliver results, not maintain full employment. Companies exist, and have always existed, to be temporary money-making enterprises. Acting like they are civil institutions tasked with upholding the social fabric is absurd.

Post by throwaway290 » Thu, May 04, 2023, 12:54 PM UTC

monero-xmr wrote: post #50

bhargav wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better for society” sounds like an overstatement. I think you mean better for Shopify or their investors. Are you excluding those 20% MFs that are getting fired from Society? Where are they gonna do their scissoring now?

You are falling into the trap of the Luddites. As a society we allow layoffs because it reallocates skilled workers to new areas that actually need them. Otherwise why not pay people to dig holes and fill them back in again, forever?

Post by sheepscreek » Thu, May 04, 2023, 12:57 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #10

DelaneyM wrote: post #2

I know the reality is more complicated, but it's always jarring to read a "company X had a great! quarter, is firing 20% of employees" headline. Very dystopian. It seems like these two facts should at least go out in different press releases on different days. For Shopify, does anyone know whether the 20% figure includes the people leaving with the sale of SFN to Flexport? Edit: just heard in the earnings call that t…

It's a fundraising advertisement, not for you. The headline is to pitch possible future investors that Shopify will prioritize investor returns over anything else (as ordained by the Prophets of capitalism)

Post by MatekCopatek » Thu, May 04, 2023, 12:59 PM UTC

monero-xmr wrote: post #39

mochomocha wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Bullshit jobs" [1] are a suboptimal and implicit mean to deliver on UBI without superficially changing the rules of capitalism. For exhibit 2, I'll bring in the US military and its economic impact on the midwest. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

The US military is not capitalism. That’s socialism - a job and industry fully dependent on the government and thus is a politically created career. Bullshit jobs don’t exist in the free market, as no capitalist would pay for someone to do something useless. If that is happening it would certainly be because a government regulator required someone to sit there twiddling thumbs.

Post by mochomocha » Thu, May 04, 2023, 12:59 PM UTC

monero-xmr wrote: post #55

mochomocha wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bullshit jobs don’t exist in the free market, as no capitalist would pay for someone to do something useless And yet if you spend any time in any large corporation, you'll find countless examples of these, including in the tech industry. Don't you have any friend working for Google/Meta/${big tech co}? Bullshit jobs can and definitely exist with capitalism: any successful and large business is filled with them.

They may exist for a while but when push comes to shove, they will be eliminated. The government is the one with the real problem - there are bureaucrats who gladly do nothing all day every day, or even actively harm industry, and they can never be fired and exist as barnacles.