The Gafams (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) have since the beginning of 2022 made numerous layoffs, in waves unprecedented in their history: 12,000 positions cut within Google, 10,000 within Microsoft, 18,000 at within Amazon or even 11,000 among the employees of Meta, the new name of the Facebook group.
Rising energy costs, inflation: the economic context weighs on these companies, but it is not the only culprit. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, admits an error in judgment after believing that the Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new era, particularly favorable to tech giants, justifying a hiring spree.
In a letter to his employees, he says that“At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic life moved to the Internet; and the rush to e-commerce has led to significant revenue growth. Many people were predicting that this acceleration would continue over time, even after the pandemic was over, myself included”.
After years of growth and the belief that the increasing dematerialization of the economy was working in their favor, these companies are suffering a major setback. Is this the end of their model? Is a bubble bursting or is it just a correction following excessive investment?
In this episode of the “L’Heure du Monde” podcast, Alexandre Piquard, journalist in the Economy department of the Worldhighlights the challenges facing Silicon Valley.
An episode of Marion Bothorel. Directed by: Thomas Zeng. Credits music: Amandine Robillard. Presentation and editor-in-chief: Jean-Guillaume Santi. In this episode: extract from Europe 1 (January 21, 2023), extract from the TikTok Nicole Tsai account.
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“L’Heure du Monde” is the daily news podcast of the World. Listen every day, from 6 a.m., to a new episode, on Lemonde.fr or on Spotify. Find all the episodes here.
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