(Amid Big Tech Winter) Thank You, Nintendo

Hopefully everyone gets re-hired immediately again, ameeen…

Spotify's layoff announcement today offered a similar context to many other recent tech sector job cuts. Grew too fast in boom times, reductions needed for tough times ahead.

January 20th 2023 (2 years of Biden administration): Google announces 12,000 roles will be cut

Context: "We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."

Salesforce recently announced 10% job cuts and has seen top execs exit. Now Elliott Investment Management has taken a multibillion-dollar stake in the company. 

The relevant question every CEO will be asked by shareholders is if Amazon, Meta & Microsoft are laying people off and subleasing buildings to reduce real estate costs, are you mad?

18000 people being laid off only from Microsoft and Amazon.

Amazon Revenue 2022: $502 billion

Microsoft Revenue 2022: $198 billion

Google - 12k layoff vs. $13.9b in 2022 profits

Amazon - 15k layoff vs. $2.9b in 2022 profits

Microsoft - 10k layoff vs. $100b in 2022 profits.

It has nothing to do with people and everything to do with corporate greed.

Google's CEO mentioned AI 3 times in the email announcing the layoffs of 12,000 workers. AI is already replacing thousands of jobs.

After layoff, Satya Nadella has announced a new multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment between Microsoft and ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

Many big tech companies cut their staff numbers to save costs, or reassure investors, but Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata says that's a strategy he won't be using.

Participating in an investor Q&A, Iwata was asked why, given Nintendo's lackluster financial performance recently, he had not cut staff numbers. He replied that such moves might resolve short-term difficulties, but always proved counter-productive in the long-term.

"If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease," he said. "I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world."

Iwata pointed towards the value of the yen against the dollar as a significant factor in the company's decreased profits. He also said that today's games require more manpower to produce than those in the past.

"I know that some employers publicize their restructuring plan to improve their financial performance by letting a number of their employees go, but at Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo's business in the long run."