[jeffreportmill1]

The CEO is worth 7B+. 1000 employees at 100k/yr would cost him 100M - less than his net worth fluctuates on any given day and only 20% of other costs savings they have identified.

Executives care little about the stakeholders: the employees, the customers, the community. It's their company, too. They only care about investors and themselves. People who "own" pay a lower tax rate than those that "work". Let's fix that and make things great again.

[alex0015]

I think you should reconsider the cost there. $100k/yr is likely well under the average for the people they're letting go. In addition, pretax salary represents only a portion, say 2/3 or so very roughly of what it costs a company to have an employee. Benefits packages and payroll taxes can cost a huge amount too.

[guywithahat]

This is 25% of their workforce; this isn't some sort of greed thing it's a serious cut to the companies operational ability due to the downturn of their product line.

Maybe he could destroy his wealth to keep the employees around a bit longer but it's better for everyone if they move on and the company has a legitimate opportunity to survive. Besides people don't want to be on corporate welfare anyways, they'd rather be part of a company where they can add meaningful value.

[salawat]

>Besides people don't want to be on corporate welfare anyways, they'd rather be part of a company where they can add meaningful value.

Funny. Those companies don't seem to be hiring. Everyone is doing layoffs. Maybe you said that wrong? People running companies don't feel obligated to employ, therefore everyone is now Someone Else's Problem.

[guywithahat]

As far as I can tell job postings in software are up this year. Executives love expanding, it's the most exciting part of the job. While there are many sectors inside software which may be doing better/worse, I can say my company is hiring, and I have no trouble getting interviews elsewhere if I want them.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IHLIDXUSTPSOFTDEVE

[MeetingsBrowser]

The difference is pay.

Although there is a slight (almost negligible) uptick in job postings, the salaries for those jobs is rapidly declining.

[guywithahat]

I'm not sure if that's true? There are a few companies in every industry who pay well above average, and then most jobs pay a more normal salary (110-150 would be my estimate). Maybe you're just not looking at the top companies anymore? Even if it was dropping through I don't see how that's relevant

[lentil_soup]

> downturn of their product line

a product line that is still expected to make $6B this year plus a bunch of other massive IPs. Come on, if he can't keep the team together with that budget then he should step aside and let someone in charge who can.

[MeetingsBrowser]

If Fortnite were the only product with revenue, they would have $1.5 million in revenue per employee before layoffs

[nailer]

Why would the CEO waste his wealth on reviving unnecessary jobs?

[nozzlegear]

Why wouldn't he? Why isn't he invested in the stakeholders?

[nailer]

> "The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we're spending significantly more than we're making"

He is - the stakeholders are his shareholders, who don't want him to run a loss, and to whom he is responsible.

[oblio]

In 1 phrase, the source of most evils in modern society.

A minority of people (shareholders) holding the majority of people (employees) at gunpoint.

[kgwgk]

They are working for money, not coerced with a gun pointing at them. They are free to leave as they please and often do.

[oblio]

The vast majority of people have to work in order to leave and for the same majority leaving employment is not easy and frequently not an option because they risk being unemployed for long periods of time. Or when they do leave the new place is even worse.

[nozzlegear]

This statement is divorced from the reality of the situation and, frankly, sounds like it comes from a position of privilege. Most job markets are not like the software developer job market where we can just leave and expect to find gainful employment with better pay and better opportunities within a couple of weeks.

[LunaSea]

Isn't he responsible for this downturn?

[nailer]

No.

[FatherOfCurses]

Why keep the goose that lays the golden eggs alive when you can kill it and get all the golden eggs today?

[xenadu02]

Is that not an admission that his poor management and lack of vision cannot foresee any way to make profitable use of those people's labor?

A company raking in 5-6 billion per year can't find any profitable bets to make? Possibilities to invest in? All they can do is cut?

LOL. If you're that bad at capitalism then please resign and let someone else give it a try.

Reminds me of PG&E. So bad at being a for-profit electric company they need constant state handouts to guarantee profits. They made bad contracts so they need a PCIA fee for not selling me electricity. Hedging? Severing contracts? Arbitrage? Forecasting? Never heard of those, now make with the free coin! My son... if you are that bad at capitalism shut it down!

I agree with Warren Buffet's take here. A company that cuts or can only pump dividends is basically saying "we can't figure out how to make productive use of people and/or cash". What an unbelievable joke.