IBM Has Payroll Problems (Just Like Microsoft)
Economic equilibrium is fast shifting
Why does Microsoft lay off or give marching orders to its best-paid staff? The corporate media won't dare say it. Why? Because it would go against the false reality often projected for its big sponsors. All those so-called (self-described) "AI giants" are debt-taking giants that look for a new identity, a new business model. In an economy like this it's hard for Google to sell as many ads as it used to (embedded in search, videos and so on), Facebook is dying (rebranding as "meta" and bribing the press to hype up and play up "metaverse" didn't work), Windows is a dying or burning platform and so on.
Microsoft has been having payroll issues, as we showed here before. So does IBM. Kyndryl for sure (we've just revisited the thread where insiders speak of delayed salaries; the company's debt is almost double its alleged total 'worth' and it's buying back its own shares to hide how bad things really are).
So expect more and more layoffs, which then introduce issues like costs associated with severance (or "buybacks" as they fancy calling these). PIPs get around this "issue" by pressing people to leave without compensation (to save face and retain pride).
On top of this, as noted last week, there are legal costs (Apple has just settled a massive legal action once again, this time over slop). Microsoft pays fines (or pays lawyers a lot of money trying to skirt such fines). IBM has another kind of cost (fines):
The state of GAFAM is nowhere as good as "Wall Street" wants us to think. I casually speak to people in Amazon and they are totally unaware that their employer has just taken about 55 billion dollars in loans (55,000 million!) in just 3 months. That's not because it is "investing in hey hi" (slop), it's because sales aren't as good as they used to be.
They say Cheeto is a lame duck and the US economy is insolvent, based on the outgoing chief of the Fed. It's a good thing that many nations around the world are, accordingly if not proactively, divesting from GAFAM. █