Some smaller tech startups are running out of cash and facing fundraising struggles with the era of easy money now over, which has prompted workforce reductions. But experts say for most large and publicly-traded tech firms, the layoff trend this month is aimed at satisfying investors.

Shulman adds: “They’re getting away with it because everybody is doing it. And they’re getting away with it because now it’s the new normal,” he said. “Workers are more comfortable with it, stock investors are appreciating it, and so I think we’ll see it continue for some time.”

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And as Wall Street rallies on news of laid-off tech employees, more and more tech companies axe workers.

“You’re seeing that these tech companies are almost being rewarded by Wall Street for their cost discipline, and that might be encouraging those companies, and other companies in tech, to cut costs and layoff staff,” said Roger Lee, who runs the industry tracker layoffs.fyi.

So it’s exactly how it feels - it’s pure greed, done by the powerful and unaccountably rich CEOs to woo powerful and unaccountably rich Wall Street investors. All of these tech companies at this point treat their workers as numbers on a balance sheet, just elements of an optimization game where only those oligarchs have a seat.