Microsoft · Google · Amazon · Donald Trump · Facebook · Federal Reserve (FED) · Wired
Why the Postpandemic Tech Bust Sent Billionaires to Trump
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In the spring of 2020, as a new and highly contagious virus spread throughout the country, the US came to a standstill.
Key facts
- Between 2019 and 2022, Amazon and Facebook more than doubled their head count, growing by 92 percent and 93 percent, respectively
- Rates were raised from near zero to roughly 5.5 percent, with the bank making 10 consecutive hikes in 15 months
- The S&P 500 fell 19.4 percent, the largest drop since 2008
- At year’s end, the industry fell 30 percent, making 2022 the third-worst year in the industry’s history, after the 2008 financial crisis and the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000
Summary
Platforms like Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams surged in usage as WFH became ubiquitous. Tech giants went on an unprecedented hiring spree, scrambling to meet new demand and cement their dominance. Between 2019 and 2022, Amazon and Facebook more than doubled their head count, growing by 92 percent and 93 percent, respectively. Tech’s pandemic-era hiring boom was underwritten by an extraordinary financial backdrop shaped by over a decade of loose monetary policy. With money easy to borrow and venture funds flush with cheap capital, tech firms expanded aggressively, and office workers reaped the rewards: skyrocketing salaries, unprecedented job mobility, and the leverage to demand more from their employers.