You could already see yourself there, with a latte in your right hand and a MacBook air in your left, ready to start your new job at this revolutionary tech company whose offices are located on Willow Road, Palo Alto, California.
Nevertheless, this dream scenario is starting to become less and less likely. Despite a very tight job market with an unemployment rate of 3.6% in the US, large (and not so large) technology companies are no longer willing to hire.
It turns out that the boom of Netflix (x2 in four years), Amazon (x3 in four years), Snapchat (x2 in four years) and other Facebook (x3 in four years) that led them to multiply their number of employees in the last few years seems to be over and the mood is now turning to cost control.
Indeed, Netflix's management announced last week that it was firing 150 employees in order to limit its operational expenses, Uber's CEO explained to his staff in an internal memo last month that he was freezing recruitments in order to cope with a changing market and Microsoft made it clear to all its managers that "in a context that is becoming more complex, resources must be deployed very meticulously to where the best opportunities are.
These are not isolated examples, but rather an underlying trend: the era of free money is on the decline, and it is now time for these companies to focus on profits. And as Warren Buffet said: "It's when the tide retreats that we find out who is swimming naked".
Who from Netflix, Uber, Snapchat etc... is swimming without a bathing suit? Head to the second quarter results to find out better.
Have a great week,
Max
