0:01 Corporate greed [music] is out of
0:03 control. In 2025, a study revealed that
0:06 the CEO of a tech company could earn in
0:07 one year [music] what an average
0:09 employee at the same company would make
0:10 in three centuries.
0:12 >> In 1965, [music]
0:14 the typical CEO of an American company
0:16 made 21 times what the typical worker
0:19 made. Fast forward to 2022 and CEOs were
0:22 making 344
0:23 times the typical worker. Although this
0:25 disparity [music] is not new, in recent
0:28 decades, the wage gap between CEOs and
0:30 workers has become enormous. In 2020,
0:34 the top 350 CEOs in the US made over $24
0:37 million on average. That means at my
0:39 current salary, [music] I'd have to work
0:42 over, I don't know, 281 years to make
0:44 what they made in one year. Likewise,
0:46 research showed that since 2019, tech
0:48 companies have cut more than 800,000
0:50 jobs worldwide, [music] while at the
0:52 same time, their profits have grown by
0:54 an average of 40%.
0:56 >> Nvidia, the AI titan, largely seen as
0:57 the most valuable company [music] in the
0:59 world, putting out a better thanex
1:00 expected earnings report. Revenue
1:02 soaring some 56% [music]
1:04 compared to last year. The media are
1:06 flooded with reports of mass layoffs
1:08 blamed on AI. But [music] recent studies
1:10 have shown that this may be nothing more
1:12 than an excuse for companies to reduce
1:14 their workforce without damaging their
1:16 image. This has led to concern even
1:17 among politicians who warn about the
1:19 [music] possible effects that corporate
1:21 greed could have on the labor market and
1:22 the economy.
1:24 >> We have never seen in this country the
1:27 level of corporate greed that we are
1:28 seeing right now.
1:30 >> So how corporate greed is slashing the
1:32 job market?
1:35 The insatiable greed of corporations is
1:36 nothing new. One of the most striking
1:38 examples in recent history is the case
1:41 of BlackBerry. During the early 2000s,
1:42 the company was synonymous with
1:44 innovation and expansion. The firm
1:46 dominated the smartphone market [music]
1:48 with a market share of over 40% in the
1:51 US in 2010. However, instead of [music]
1:53 reinvesting its profits into innovation
1:55 and development, the company began to
1:57 prioritize reducing operating costs and
1:59 increasing shareholder value. Starting
2:02 in 2011, management initiated massive
2:04 layoffs under the pretext [music] of
2:06 adjusting the structure to maintain
2:08 profitability, cutting nearly 5,000 jobs
2:10 in [music] a single year. Phone company
2:12 Blackberry announced plans to lay off
2:16 4,500 employees or 40% of its global
2:17 workforce. These measures were presented
2:19 as part of an efficiency plan, but in
2:21 practice, they weakened the company's
2:23 ability to innovate. With fewer
2:25 engineers and downsized teams,
2:26 BlackBerry lost ground to Apple and
2:28 Google, which during those same [music]
2:29 years were investing billions in
2:32 research, software, and user experience.
2:35 Between 2012 and 2013, BlackBerry's
2:37 sales dropped by more than 50% and its
2:40 market share fell to less than 1%. As
2:42 losses accumulated, the company
2:44 continued its cycle of layoffs and plant
2:46 closures, seeking [music] to satisfy
2:48 investors instead of rebuilding its
2:49 technological leadership. In [music]
2:52 2016, BlackBerry laid off another 200
2:54 employees and announced it would stop
2:56 manufacturing phones [music] altogether.
2:58 This decision became a prime example of
3:00 how corporate greed, disguised as
3:02 optimization, can destroy a brand that
3:04 once symbolized technological excellence.
3:05 excellence.
3:07 >> BlackBerry will no longer manufacture
3:10 [music] its own iconic phones. Oh no.
3:12 >> Even the lavish perks that once
3:14 characterized the tech industry are now
3:16 being questioned. [music] For decades,
3:17 working for a tech company had been the
3:19 dream of many because of its great
3:21 benefits. However, the waves of mass
3:23 layoffs over the past 3 years have
3:25 proven [music] that companies never had
3:27 real loyalty toward their workers. Many
3:29 of those benefits were necessary more
3:31 than they were generous gestures. They
3:33 were just tools to attract and retain
3:35 talent. [music] A clear example of this
3:37 was Google, which for years was famous
3:39 for its campuses filled with perks such
3:41 as free gourmet meals, gyms, [music]
3:43 massages, and private employee shuttles.
3:45 However, after announcing more than
3:48 12,000 [music] layoffs in 2023, roughly
3:51 6% of its global workforce, the company
3:53 also began cutting back many of those
3:54 hallmark benefits.
3:56 >> Talk about technology and the crazy
3:58 perks that these companies used to offer
4:00 to attract and retain top talent at
4:02 Silicon Valley firms. Could they be a
4:04 thing of the past as they look to cut cost
4:04 cost
4:06 >> in offices across the US and the UK?
4:08 Free lunches were eliminated for certain
4:10 [music] shifts and the number of open
4:13 cafeterias was reduced. Travel expenses
4:14 were restricted and internal
4:16 celebrations were [music] paused all
4:18 under the pretext of operational
4:20 efficiency. This however resulted in
4:22 Google reporting an increase of about
4:24 $86 [music] billion in its annual
4:26 profits. This change revealed that many
4:28 of the so-called perks presented [music]
4:30 for years as part of an innovative and
4:32 human corporate culture were in fact
4:34 strategies for recruitment and
4:36 retention. Rather than reflecting
4:37 genuine commitment, these perks
4:40 primarily served to attract and keep
4:42 employees. Once the labor market
4:43 contracted [music] and the company no
4:45 longer had to fiercely compete for
4:46 engineers, those perks became
4:48 expendable. [music] Adding to this was
4:50 the rise of artificial intelligence,
4:52 which provided the perfect excuse for
4:54 companies to reduce their workforce
4:55 [music] without tarnishing their image
4:57 in front of investors.
4:59 >> More than 500 employees woke up from a
5:02 with a text from Paycom telling them not
5:04 to go into work today. [music] The
5:06 company terminated what they call the
5:08 back office roles and replaced those
5:10 jobs with AI.
5:12 >> In practice, however, this narrative
5:14 rarely translates into significant
5:16 operational savings. For example, energy
5:18 costs, office rents, and infrastructure
5:20 maintenance expenses are barely reduced,
5:22 while [music] staff cuts generate an
5:24 immediate and quantifiable reduction in
5:27 payroll, benefits, and compensations. A
5:29 concrete example is Meta Platforms,
5:32 which between 2022 and 2023 eliminated
5:35 around 14,000 jobs, more than 10% of its
5:37 global workforce. The company claimed
5:40 that AI would improve efficiency in its
5:42 products and operations. But experts
5:44 noted that the real savings in
5:45 technological infrastructure were
5:48 marginal compared to the money saved on
5:49 salaries. [music] In fact, the company
5:51 managed to maintain and even increase
5:54 its net profits by more than 20% during
5:56 [music] that period, demonstrating that
5:58 the layoffs were more related to margin
6:00 optimization than to operational improvements.
6:00 improvements.
6:02 >> It's clear that Meta's year of
6:05 efficiency has really paid off. Many of
6:07 the measures that it took last year
6:09 helped it reduce its costs. It reduced
6:12 its headcount and even with this leaner
6:14 team and operations, it was really able
6:17 to exceed expectations. Google has
6:19 followed a similar pattern. In 2023, it
6:22 cut approximately 6% of its workforce
6:25 while reporting revenues of 307 billion,
6:28 a 9% increase from the previous year.
6:30 Corporate statements emphasized AI as a
6:32 driver of efficiency. For example, Rick
6:35 Smith, CEO of Axon Enterprises, [music]
6:38 received total compensation of $165
6:41 million in 2024, more than a,000 times
6:43 [music] the average salary of his
6:45 employees. In Amazon's case, the
6:47 disparity reached even higher levels.
6:49 Andy Jasse, the company's CEO, received
6:52 total compensation of $40 million in
6:54 2024, driven mainly by stock valuation.
6:56 In contrast, [music] the average Amazon
6:59 employee earned less than $38,000 per
7:01 year, meaning Jasse made more than a
7:03 thousand times a typical worker's
7:05 salary. This inequality worsens when top
7:07 executives receive record bonuses for
7:09 meeting efficiency goals. a polite way
7:11 of saying they [music] managed to lay
7:13 off more people and reduce labor costs.
7:15 But this has not gone unnoticed by
7:18 public opinion. 87% of Americans believe
7:20 this disparity to be a problem.
7:21 >> While in the previous decade, the
7:23 [music] tech sector was seen as a driver
7:25 of global prosperity with startups
7:27 growing, programmers earning high
7:28 salaries and large corporations
7:30 celebrated for driving digital change.
7:32 Now that same sector has become the main
7:34 engine of structural inequality,
7:36 resembling the financial world more than
7:38 the innovative one. Technology, which
7:39 once promised to free people from
7:41 repetitive tasks and open new
7:43 opportunities for growth, is now being
7:48 used as an argument to eliminate them.
7:50 At Economy Media, your opinion matters
7:52 to us. Subscribe and let us know what
