Big Tech Enters New Era Of Scaled Back Ambitions As Stock Market Contracts

Wall Street wants profit, not long-term growth, and Big Tech is delivering. But at what cost?

Big Tech’s recent slew of canceled projects, staff reshuffling, and calls for ‘efficiency’ is no accident. Rising interest rates have focused investors on short-term profitability and companies like Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Snap are responding. Amazon’s longer-term telehealth bet is finished, Facebook’s New Product Experimentation unit is shrinking, and Snap’s selfie drone is toast.

“The fucking party’s over,” said one recently departed Meta employee.

This trimming signals the start of a new era for Big Tech, one where runaway spending on tomorrow gives way to unrelenting attention on today. In this era, Big Tech will become more efficient and profitable, but also more vulnerable. Competitive challenges that otherwise might’ve been swatted away in the age of easy money will become more difficult to fend off. And other, previously unthinkable events are now plausible, especially as the Federal Reserve signals its interest in more aggressive rate hikes.

Here’s what to expect as these companies scale back their faraway ambitions and concentrate on their core: