another take on layoffs and AI on earnings calls

Leanness and AI fail job cuts “smell test” It’s not only me who doesn’t buy the explanation that these layoffs are to streamline the company, or to redirect resources to AI.

Noted this several times, but another take here. “Streamlining” “over-hiring” feels so delayed. Like why did it take 2-3 years to ‘correct’. And “maximizing AI investments” doesn’t make sense either since all these companies have huge war chests.

_{Quote Citation: Gergely Orosz, “The Pulse: Amazon layoffs – AI or economy to blame?”, 2025-03-11, https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-pulse-amazon-layoffs-ai-or-economy}