this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
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One factor I haven't seen mentioned is that because of rising interest rates, tech companies have had to shift from being focused on growth to actually turning a profit. Because of this, companies are having to shed employees because they over hired in anticipation of that continued growth. People are expensive so that's an "easy" way to try to get the line closer to positive.
This is kind of a rough overview and I'm by no means an expert on economics. Just someone who works in tech and so has been following things closely.
Michael Hudson, Jun. 2022: The Fed’s Austerity Program to Reduce Wages
It also takes time to realize the costs of shedding workforce, and by then you might have a different CEO. As long as it's next quarter, it's fine.
This plus the changes to section 174 meaning R&D costs have to be written off over five years instead of all in the year they're incurred. That's hurting startups a lot and many have had to switch from building new stuff to licensing/selling their existing stuff, and firing some expensive engineers/developers, to be able to afford to stay open. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/20/taxes-irs-startups-section174