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0 pointsromaniv1mo ago0 comments

This seems to be the new normal in Big Tech. They regularly announce massive layoffs, but if you look at their size over time it stays stable or grows. Cloudflare size grew every year. Microsoft size was stable for the past 4 years despite all the layoffs. Google had lost some (4%) employees in 2023, but has grown back to 2022 size last year. Meta shrunk by 22% in 2023, but has been growing in size since then and is probably back to 2022 size right now.

These companies overhire and then downsize. This is covered up by the moronic narrative about AI.

Side note. You know who is steadily shrinking, though? Intel. Wild, eh?

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NET/cloudflare/num...

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/num...

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GOOGL/alphabet/num...

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/META/meta-platform...

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/INTC/intel/number-...

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3 comments · 3 top-level

5upplied_demand1mo ago

> Google had lost some (4%) employees in 2023, but has grown back to 2022 size last year. Meta shrunk by 22% in 2023, but has been growing in size since then and is probably back to 2022 size right now.

Google's revenue in 2022 was $282 billion, in 2025 it was $402 billion (43% growth).

Meta's revenue in 2022 was $117 billion, in 2025 it was $201 billion (72% growth).

Surging profits paired with flat employment continues the concentration of wealth.

> You know who is steadily shrinking, though? Intel. Wild, eh?

Intel's revenue is falling ($63 billion in 2022 vs $52 billion in 2025), makes sense that they would trim headcount.

Aurornis1mo ago

> This seems to be the new normal in Big Tech. They regularly announce massive layoffs, but if you look at their size over time it stays stable or grows.

Periodic layoffs always happen at all big companies.

I think it’s only surprising to people now because it’s being tied to the AI worries at the same time where we’re exiting an unusual period where layoffs all but stopped for a few years after COVID.

The layoff sizes are also larger because there was so much overhiring in those years after COVID. Some rebound effects in play.

ryandrake1mo ago

Interestingly, at least on my browser, the bottom of the Y axis is not consistently zero from chart-to-chart, which distorts the message being conveyed by these charts.

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