Microsoft laid off hundreds of workers last week.
In total, it has laid off over 2500 employees so far this year.
Its CEO was paid $48.5M in 2023 — 250x the company's typical worker.
Yesterday, the company announced a $60B stock buyback program.
Textbook corporate greed.
@schreibmax @rbreich As long as the average American can either (a) be unaware of this, (b) believe this is the best way to do things, (c) believe this is an inevitable consequence of peak capitalism and the American Way of Life, and/or (d) not have to experience any of these consequences directly and personally.
That's my theory for now.
It's almost like they need to make up for all the lifetime clients who abandoned the sinking Microsoft ship due to feeling unheard. At this point, I'm heavily reconsidering Linux as it gets more user-friendly.
@rbreich $40M / 2500 = MS could have given each of those laid off workers $16K in severance pay (or continued employment) if their CEO was paid only $8M/year instead of $48M.
The fact that I'm sure there are people offended at how "little" $8M/year is makes me sad.
@rbreich
Stock buybacks should be illegal.
@samhainnight @rbreich
I know. They should be again.
If a company has money for a stock buyback, they should:
- lower their prices and/or
- pay their staff more and/or
- invest in expanding the business
Two things you should not do is:
- pay exec even more and/or
- reward shareholders w buybacks or dividends
@rbreich 60b = 24 million per laid-off employee.
I can see they're struggling for cash.
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