Carl Icahn: "I Fired 12 Floors of People"

The only reason FMCG is an exception was after 3G. The sector used to be a totally bloated mess, then 3G acquired Heinz, fired whole teams of people, and it made no difference to results at all (obv, it all went a bit wrong after but I don't think anyone believes that was due to cost). After that, almost every FMCG started looking at costs (ofc, it also helped that revenue stopped growing). Carl Icahn story about cutting costs: [this video] - fired a building full of people, never heard about it again. Most companies are run as bureaucracies, dual share classes haven't helped. There is no difference between your average Google employee and a civil servant. Unfortunately, this is a pretty raw deal for shareholders. You cash out insiders, the bureaucrats move in, the amount of cost extends to the revenue base, eventually revenue slows down (bureaucrats don't tend to be good stewards of capital), the rats all leave the ship, you find out the cost base could have been 50% smaller all along, and you are left with a stock on its way to bankruptcy.

I'd love to hear some predictions or metrics to look out for in the next few months/years. Tech valuations and free money have been frothy for so long, no one bothered asking what is actually needed to run a service at a meaningful scale, but we may have the answer soon. I'm reminded of corporate raider Carl Ichan firing 12 floors at of people after spending some time and not being able to figure out what they do. The company was ACM (manufacturing railcars), about 30 years ago. Turns out those 12 floors of people were actually costing jobs in other place just to support them. Well he fired all 12 floors and nothing changed. [this video]