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Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

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Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#81

Post by manuelabeledo »

gabereiser wrote: post #45
manuelabeledo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If their job is to make money for the shareholders, and quarterly reports show that they are either making less money, or incurring in losses, then they aren't doing their job. They laid off people who had little to zero influence in defining the company mission, trying to cut spending. This suggests that the C-suite over-spent. > Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted. Blame the…

Those are trends of company health, not performance metrics of the CEO. The performance metrics of the CEO is "In discovery of this down trend, what can we do to reorg the business and trim the fat so that we can turn this down trend upwards? (put together plan) (fires those that don't fit within that plan)". This is a good CEO. Maybe hated by those he/she fired, but loved by those who depend on the company to succee…

You hired ten people to work on soil you knew nothing about.

Maybe you shouldn't be doing gardening at all.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#82

Post by bsg75 »

bachmeier wrote: post #49
mabbo wrote: post #20

The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money. As much money as possible. If laying people off is the best way to do that, they'll do it. Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted. Blame the broken system that incentivizes this, that makes doing it profitable. And then, let's change the system.

> Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted I find that to be ironic. One of the problems with a CEO is that they'll maximize short-run profit rather than do what's in the best interest of the shareholders.

That is because shareholders are focused on current / next quarter gains, and will blame management if short term expectations are not met.

Then when long term goals fail, shareholders will blame management when long term expectations are not met.

Shareholders are not strategic, with the possible exception of a few rarities.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#84

Post by bradleyjg »

gabereiser wrote: post #45
manuelabeledo wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If their job is to make money for the shareholders, and quarterly reports show that they are either making less money, or incurring in losses, then they aren't doing their job. They laid off people who had little to zero influence in defining the company mission, trying to cut spending. This suggests that the C-suite over-spent. > Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted. Blame the…

Those are trends of company health, not performance metrics of the CEO. The performance metrics of the CEO is "In discovery of this down trend, what can we do to reorg the business and trim the fat so that we can turn this down trend upwards? (put together plan) (fires those that don't fit within that plan)". This is a good CEO. Maybe hated by those he/she fired, but loved by those who depend on the company to succee…

When did you realize the garden was full of clay vs when could you have realized?

Isn’t that a relevant question to ask in order to determine how good a home manager you are?

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#85

Post by creato »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #38
nightski wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of examples of CEOs making decisions for the future health of the company that are rewarded by Wall Street. The trope that investors only care about the current quarter profits is just bs. In fact in my experience future growth potential is rewarded a lot more by Wall Street than consistent profits.

I think this point would be helped with some examples.

Amazon

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#86

Post by colinmorelli »

Regardless of individual opinions on whether CEOs should be terminated for layoffs or not - there's a surprising amount of comments here that seem to not understand that growing companies don't hire for today, but for where they want to be tomorrow. Where you want to be tomorrow is based on where you and your investors believe the world is going. If the world materially changes enough to shift your expectations about where it's going, then you change your plans (and headcount) accordingly.

In other words, when COVID hit and tech companies saw large surges because investors and CEOs saw industries leaping 5-10 years into the future overnight, they hired to support that growth. As the market has shifted and inflation combined with an end to the public health emergency has tempered growth expectations, investors and CEOs cut head count to match.

It sucks, and I'm not saying this is how it should be to those people who are impacted. But if you wait until the world is already where you thought it might be before you react and start building for that world, you're behind. Whether or not CEOs should be punished for getting the call wrong is what this post is about, but getting the call wrong sometimes is expected/necessary if you want to have a chance of getting it right.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#87

Post by rcme »

hackernewds wrote: post #78
rcme wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money. As much money as possible. If laying people off is the best way to do that, they'll do it. How is failing to predict market conditions a few months into the future and over hiring part of making a publicly traded company money? If anything, these layoffs are an admission from management that they're wasting money.

It's not wasted money. They hired people at peak, and fired them when peak reverted. If they'd ceded market share to competitors who were aggressive when peaking then these CEOs should have been fired.

No, it's a pretty clear example of following the puck.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#88

Post by cj »

rcme wrote: post #61
mabbo wrote: post #20

The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money. As much money as possible. If laying people off is the best way to do that, they'll do it. Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted. Blame the broken system that incentivizes this, that makes doing it profitable. And then, let's change the system.

> The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money. As much money as possible. If laying people off is the best way to do that, they'll do it. How is failing to predict market conditions a few months into the future and over hiring part of making a publicly traded company money? If anything, these layoffs are an admission from management that they're wasting money.

> How is failing to predict market conditions a few months into the future...

Most things like this are very difficult (impossible) to predict. In hindsight everything seems obvious, but it usually isn't obvious in the moment.

In 2020/2021, shareholders of tech companies were demanding growth and pouring money into these companies to create growth. Most companies took that money, hired people to create growth, under the impression that the flow of money wouldn't be abruptly and unexpectedly turned off, which is what happened in early 2022, leading the companies not being able to raise additional capital, leading to lay offs as they pivot their strategy to more cash efficient operating models.

TLDR: It's hard to predict the future. And when you're in a bubble, it's very hard to recognize it until after the bubble bursts. And, bubbles can last multiple years (even decades). If you asked people in 2021 if tech valuations would continue to increase, I'm guessing many people would say "yes" even though a few short months later the answer was obviously "no".

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#89

Post by papito »

bsg75 wrote: post #82
bachmeier wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted I find that to be ironic. One of the problems with a CEO is that they'll maximize short-run profit rather than do what's in the best interest of the shareholders.

That is because shareholders are focused on current / next quarter gains, and will blame management if short term expectations are not met. Then when long term goals fail, shareholders will blame management when long term expectations are not met. Shareholders are not strategic, with the possible exception of a few rarities.

It's as if the shareholders are of one mind and there are absolutely no investors out there in it in for the long-term.

If they want to get rich quick, they are free to try the OTC market with high risks and high rewards, or Vegas.

Re: Tech CEOs Should Be Held Accountable, or Even Fired, Amid Layoffs

#90

Post by JustSomeNobody »

mabbo wrote: post #20

The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money. As much money as possible. If laying people off is the best way to do that, they'll do it. Blaming the CEO for doing the job they were hired to do seems short-sighted. Blame the broken system that incentivizes this, that makes doing it profitable. And then, let's change the system.

> The goal of the CEO of a publicly traded company is to make the shareholders money.

Arguably, their goal is to maximize share price because most of their "income" is paid in shares.

An argument can be made that they are not acting rationally by laying off so many employees.

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