《经济学人·商论》2023-08-14

Next-generation Googles run a tighter ship

扎克伯格将2023年称为Meta的“效率年”，这种官腔其实就是承认他的社交媒体帝国过于臃肿。自去年11月以来，Meta已裁员2.1万人，约占其员工总数的四分之一。其他科技巨头的老板们也信奉效率至上。自去年10月以来，Alphabet、亚马逊和微软共裁员5万多人。尽管广告销售额上升，但“重构成本基础”之类的话题仍然出现在近来大型科技公司的季度财报电话会议上。这种放血（用大白话说）并不只限于巨头。根据跟踪裁员情况的公司layoffs.fyi的数据，2023年全球近900家科技公司已经宣布的裁员总人数已超过22万。MARK ZUCKERBERG dubbed 2023 Meta’s “year of efficiency”, corporate-speak for admitting that his social-media empire was bloated. Since November Meta has cut 21,000 jobs, or about a quarter of its workforce. Bosses of its fellow tech titans have also embraced the efficiency mantra. Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft have collectively shed more than 50,000 jobs since October. Despite an uptick in ad sales, talk of “re-engineering the cost base” and the like still featured in big tech’s quarterly-earnings calls late last month. The bloodletting (in plain English) is not limited to the giants. According to layoffs.fyi, a sackings-tracker, nearly 900 tech firms around the world have announced total job cuts of more than 220,000 in 2023.

经济衰退对年轻公司的打击最大。由于利率不断上升，它们承诺的遥远未来的丰厚利润现在看来不那么诱人了。因此，风险资本家开始精打细算。在全球范围内，今年上半年的风险投资为1440亿美元，低于2022年同期的2930亿美元。那些找到投资者的公司正眼看着自己的估值被压低。为创业公司做股权管理的平台Carta的数据显示，在2023年第一季度，近五分之一的风险投资交易是“流血融资”，即企业以低于以往的估值融资。在3月最新一轮融资后，金融科技明星公司Stripe的估值从950亿美元降至500亿美元。

The slump has hit younger firms hardest. Rising interest rates make their promise of rich profits far in the future look less juicy today. As a consequence, venture capitalists are stinting. Globally, venture-capital investment in the first half of this year was $144bn, down from $293bn in the same period in 2022. Those that find investors are seeing their valuations squeezed. According to Carta, an equity platform for startups, in the first quarter of 2023 almost a fifth of all venture deals were “down rounds”, where firms raise money at a lower valuation than before. That of Stripe, a fintech star, fell from $95bn to $50bn after its latest funding round in March.

这也逼迫有志成为下一个Alphabet或Meta的公司们纷纷效仿榜样，摒弃在融资轻而易举的时代养成的习惯。效率是硅谷的热门话题。习惯靠疯狂砸钱赢得市场份额的公司发现自己处在不得不减脂的陌生境地。而且要减掉的脂肪还不少。

This is forcing aspiring Alphabets and Metas to follow their role models and ditch the habits acquired in the era of easy money. Efficiency is the talk of Silicon Valley. Firms accustomed to spending with abandon to win market share find themselves in the unfamiliar position of having to trim fat. And there is plenty of fat to trim.... ...

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《经济学人·商论》2022-08-09

The era of big-tech exceptionalism may be over