What we’re reading (1/21)
“Google Employees Scramble For Answers After Layoffs Hit Long-Tenured And Recently Promoted Employees” (CNBC). “On Friday, Alphabet-owned Google announced it was cutting 12,000 employees, roughly 6% of the full-time workforce. While employees had been bracing for a potential layoff, they are questioning leadership about the criteria for layoffs which surprised some employees, who woke up to find their access to company properties cut off. Some of the laid-off employees had been long-tenured or recently promoted, raising questions about the criteria used to decide whose jobs were cut.”
“Google, Amazon, And Microsoft Layoffs Will Result In A ‘Bloodbath’ Of 40,000 Jobs Lost. Inside The Tech Industry's Week From Hell.” (Insider). “As employees reel from the anxiety of layoffs that have reached a new peak, many predict an industry that will be irrevocably changed: On the other end is emerging an industry less focused on hyper growth, with more stable share prices, trimmer headcounts, and for employees, much leaner compensation.”
“SBF, Bored Ape Yacht Club, And The Spectacular Hangover After The Art World’s NFT Gold Rush” (Vanity Fair). “In September 2021, Sotheby’s offered up for auction a cache of 101 Bored Ape NFTs as a lot in a special sale called Ape In! The digital art revolution had seemingly remade the art market in the months prior, and this was the finest collection of non-fungible tokens ever assembled by one of the world’s oldest auction houses, founded in 1744. Scrolling through the catalog of cartoon monkeys in funny hats and jackets, one could see one rare Bored Ape with solid gold fur and holographic eyes, but also rarer yet, the Ape with an unshaven face eating a piece of pizza. For digital-art enthusiasts who aspired to membership in the Bored Ape Yacht Club, this was a huge deal.”
“Crypto Banks Borrow Billions From Home-Loan Banks To Plug Shortfalls” (Wall Street Journal). “Two of the biggest banks to cryptocurrency companies are rushing to stem a flood of customer withdrawals by borrowing billions of dollars from Federal Home Loan Banks, the system originally designed to support mortgage lending in the 1930s.”
“Elizabeth Holmes Made An ‘Attempt To Flee The Country’ After Her Conviction, Prosecutors Say” (CNN Business). “Elizabeth Holmes made an “attempt to flee the country” by booking a one-way ticket to Mexico departing in January 2022, shortly after the Theranos founder was convicted of fraud, prosecutors alleged in a new court filing Friday.”
