Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction • Hacker News Board

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#631

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:34 PM UTC

azemetre wrote: post #509

Something weird I noticed about Dropbox: I cancelled my paid account two years ago. I had 5 terabytes of storage being used (mostly shitty concert vids and food pics). Everyday they email me telling me I’m over my limit. They always “threaten” to delete the data but it’s been two years since I cancelled. My Qs are: why are they hoarding my data for so long? Why would they want to do this? How cheap is storage for the…

Maybe they are just good people and don't like to do evil things like deleting someone's life memories?

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#632

Post by ghaff » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:34 PM UTC

tschellenbach wrote: post #551

The same forces that enable high tech salaries, also make layoffs more likely. - The market for talent is competitive. So companies bid up to the absolute max they can - The market for managers is also competitive. Creating dynamics that lead to larger teams and raises for team members - Companies allow things like remote work, which is a perk, but also has a lot of abuse in terms of how much work gets done The end r…

There's also COBRA, and the exchanges in the US. Frankly, even if you're eligible for Medicare it really isn't any cheaper if you're a current or recent high earner. But, in any case, it's about $7K/year for an individual who doesn't otherwise have coverage for a spouse etc.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#633

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:35 PM UTC

mrthrowaway999 wrote: post #583

I'm sad to see so much venom in these comments. HN of old would have tried to delve into the details and find something to learn from this.

This literally happens every single time there is a big layoff announcement on HN; at this point it's completely predictable. People love these stories as a place to vent (not that I necessarily blame them), but I do find that these kind of stories always attract the lowest quality comments. E.g. "Why hasn't the CEO committed harakiri!" Which is always a bit sad to me because I think the biggest mistake (especially in highly paid industries) is to think that a layoff is the end of the world and the absolute worse possible thing that can happen to someone.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#634

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:35 PM UTC

anon291 wrote: post #476

echoangle wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder what gives these people the drive to continue. Maybe I’m lazy and lacking vision but if I were worth 2B, I don’t think I would go to the office every day just to get accused of mismanagement when I have to lay people off. I would take my yacht to the Caribbean and slack off.

Because it's fun? Honestly after two days of vacation, I'm about ready to do something

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#635

Post by bsimpson » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:35 PM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #586

elric wrote: post #90

I'm always a bit confused by profitable companies with (presumably) large reserves laying off lots of people. I get that they want to remain profitable. But sure 500ish people could be put to some use? A new product, a new market, a spinoff. Whatever? Are you telling me that no one in such a big, wealthy company of clever engineers has any use for a bunch of talented people?

Interestingly enough, I once worked at a company that saw how huge amounts of money could be made taking the exact opposite approach. This all came about because this company had built a couple of hugely successful, and profitable, enterprise software products. So this company then decided to plow a ton of money into building out other products. The company was also pretty famous for having a high employee bar, and t…

"Killed by Google" has a similar problem.

Google has killed products that could be entire companies if they weren't attached to the Search Ads firehose.

A $100 dinner could be an annual splurge if you're making minimum wage, and an arbitrary Tuesday if you have a quarter million dollar salary.

Executives think the same way about revenue streams. When they have one product that makes $$$$$ in revenue, they think "not worth my time" to consider another that makes $$. Really frustrating for the people making and using the lower revenue product, but it's why Google feels like a "billion users or bust" company.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#636

Post by s1artibartfast » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:36 PM UTC

sangnoir wrote: post #563

s1artibartfast wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why isn’t it never something like the CEO doesn’t get any stocks that year. Performance based compensation is absolutely standard for CEOs- Both in terms of options and stock grants.

And who sets the standards? Their CEO-buddies on the boards. None of them would dare rock the boat. One of the failure modes of 401ks and investment funds are large investment pools that don't vote at AGMs, leaving boards largely dominated by CxOs, to their own devices.

Either you dont understand my point, or I dont understand yours.

Im saying CEOs have financial skin in the game tied to company performance. They get less, often much less when the company shits the bed. This was in response to a parent post that seems to think CEO comp is entirely isolated from performance.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#637

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:36 PM UTC

sangnoir wrote: post #606

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> must be nice to claim "macro-economic headwinds" as justification for poor performance and poor planning, but still get paid bonuses for the never-mentioned "macro-economic tailwinds" What would you do if you owned a business? Fire leadership every time they make a wrong call? Or ban them from admitting they made a wrong call?

If I owned a controlling stake in a business, I'd fire the leadership every time there's evidence of short-term thinking. The problem with public companies is systemic: a large fraction of shareholders want short term appreciation, and so they support and reward short-term mindsets in leaders at the cost of long-term value.

> I'd fire the leadership every time there's evidence of short-term thinking

Have you owned a business? Worked for a manager who thought like this? You’re describing the sort of mercurial boss who fires people for disagreeing with them.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#638

Post by miningape » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:36 PM UTC

Goronmon wrote: post #590

miningape wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your manager doesn't get upset when you leave, bit weird how people feel so differently when they get fired. Really? You think its weird that someone leaving impacts that person more than their manager, team, or company? A manager doesn't care that you leave because he still gets to bring home a salary, all they have to do is hire another person and maybe cut back on scope for a little while. When someone is layed…

A manager doesn't care that you leave because he still gets to bring home a salary, all they have to do is hire another person and maybe cut back on scope for a little while. Yeah, I'm curious how someone can have an opinions on workplaces and workers and not seem to have personal experience with the subject, especially in a community like this. Do they just come from a wealthy family so the stance is "Getting fired…

It seems the original commenter has never really been a "line-worker". But I could be very wrong too, but then I'd be curious how those opinions were formed.

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#639

Post by jes5199 » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:37 PM UTC

njtransit wrote: post #561

tschellenbach wrote: post #551

The same forces that enable high tech salaries, also make layoffs more likely. - The market for talent is competitive. So companies bid up to the absolute max they can - The market for managers is also competitive. Creating dynamics that lead to larger teams and raises for team members - Companies allow things like remote work, which is a perk, but also has a lot of abuse in terms of how much work gets done The end r…

A somewhat sensible take, but the issue isn’t just healthcare. A lot of your life is based off of long-term, fixed cost cash flow. E.g. you can’t pay less on your mortgage just because you got fired. Even with savings, getting laid off is highly disruptive, and, if done as part of a broader downturn in the market, you may never recover the required cash flow to enable your lifestyle.

honestly this is one of the reasons I prefer pre-IPO companies, my salary is lower until they do a buyback or an exit, but it ends up basically in the same place over the long term. This is how I was able to put a downpayment on a house without consciously "saving up" for it. Obviously there's some risk but I've had two buybacks, one IPO, and two acquisitions since 2012

Re: Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction

#640

Post by ghaff » Wed, Oct 30, 2024, 5:37 PM UTC

Brystephor wrote: post #596

dixie_land wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, I feel a lot of my coworkers fell under this trap: if you need cashflow for mortgage on your 4m mansion in (affluent neighborhood), you can't really afford it.

The only mortgages that don't require cashflow are the paid off mortgages. Even if someone has a year of savings, or two years, or three, after that amount is drained, they need cash flow again. So how does one buy a house without being dependent on cash flow?

Well, you need cashflow on a house in general. Even with a paid-off mortgage, I'm easily $10K/year and probably closer to $20K if I'm not pushing various stuff off.