Happy And Succeeding In The Future Of Work
Elon Musk’s Poop Emoji, Salary Raises At Big Tech And We Learned Stock And Cryptos Can Go Down
Elon Musk’s Chutzpah
You may love or hate Elon Musk, but you have to respect his chutzpah. America’s richest manchild sort of bought Twitter, and now is trying to get the price tag down.
When the stock market—particularly tech stocks—plummeted, Twitter’s stock stayed strong because of Musk’s purchase price. He leveraged his Tesla’s shares, which rapidly declined in value and now desperately wants to lower his bid for the social network.
Musk is arguing that the price tag should be reduced since the site is infested with bots and fake accounts (weren’t there a ton of Tesla fanboy bots boosting Tesla shares?). Musk asserts that he shouldn’t have to keep his commitment to pay a premium for the social media site when it's questionable how many real people use the platform.
Poop Emoji
In an online conversation about phony accounts with the most likely outgoing Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal, Musk shared a poop emoji. This was his witty rejoinder to the hopelessly outmatched Agrawal’s tweet thread trying to say that everyone on the app is who they say they are.
Mo’ Money At Microsoft
There’s way less tension over at Microsoft. The tech giant’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that he’s raising compensation to attract, recruit and retain top talent. Nadella is looking to almost double the global merit budget and will allocate money to people early and in the middle of their careers, as well as to folks living in certain locations. There will be raises in annual stock grants by around 25% or higher for some employees.
In addition to the war for talent, tech workers are saying they need higher compensation, since the drop in stock prices have diluted their total compensation packages. Additionally, they cite the rampant rise in inflation, hitting record-level 40-year highs, running at a ridiculous 8.3%, is causing the costs of everything—ranging from gas at the pumps to food and Lamborghinis—to go up.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, is changing its performance system to offer higher pay to their workers too. Not to be left out of the pay party, Amazon will more than double maximum base pay for corporate employees.
The Battle Between Biden And Bezos
Speaking of billionaires, the White House and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos are feuding over inflation. Taking time off from partying on his luxury yachts with his new hot girlfriend, Bezos complained about Biden’s plans to tax the rich. The now-chiseled and ripped Bezos accused Biden of not having a clue about how the economy works and claims the Geritol president is lying to the public by saying taxing the rich will stop inflation.
Bezos says it's the multitrillions of dollars that were flushed into the economy that devalued the dollar, leading to out-of-control inflation. Biden responded by muttering incoherently and forgot about what the disagreement was about.
Biden, in a dig at Bezos, invited Chris Smalls, the head of the Staten Island, New York union drive for warehouse and fulfillment centers workers, to join him at the White House. He praised Smalls saying that he's the right “kind of trouble” and “let's not stop.”
Bezos responded that Biden and his cronies are just trying to mislead the public by pointing to Putin as the sole culprit and avoiding taking responsibility for his administration supplying too much fiscal intervention, which led to the inflation that we are enduring right now.
Stocks And Cryptos Can Go Down?!
For young tech and crypto bros, they were surprised to learn that stock and digital assets can actually go down. Novice meme stock and crypto traders were thunderstruck with the losses they incurred. Twenty-something-year-old CEOs who run and manage multibillion-dollar unicorn companies were shocked to learn that their lack of revenue, profits and cash burn has caused the valuations to plunge. As Warren Buffet has famously said, “When the tides go out, you can see who is swimming naked.”
We are witnessing a sobering reality. The cratering securities markets, along with the possibility of World War III, political strife, mass shootings and the Amber Turd and Jump Street Johnny Depp trial has ushered in a new and not-so-happy era of belt tightening.
A New Sheriff Comes To Town
The sheriff of Wall Street is coming to the rescue. In light of the breakdown of cryptos, which were supposed to be uncorrelated to the securities markets, Gary Gensler, the new Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, said the obvious: cryptos are speculative and you can lose money. He has called for tougher regulations.
“The investment public is not getting disclosures…When you make other asset purchases, we have this basic bargain, you the investing public can make your choices about what risks you take,” Gensler said. “There's supposed to be full and fair disclosure, and people aren't supposed to lie to you. Right now, many of these entrepreneurs come up with an idea … and they want to raise money from you. That puts it inside of the securities laws.”
He ominously added, alluding to Coinbase, “If the platform goes down, guess what? You just have a counterparty relationship with the platform. Get in line at bankruptcy court."
Did You Know That You Can Earn $200k At Walmart?
Big-box retail giant Walmart can’t find enough workers. That isn’t shocking, given the tight job market. However, what is revealing is that running a Walmart store pays around $200,000. The largest employer in the U.S. is launching a graduate training program to attract future managers.
Walmart was in the news for another reason: its stock cratered, falling the most in over 20 years. The plunge was due to a lackluster forecast due to inflationary pressures and the rapid rise in food and fuel costs.
About Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly is the CEO, founder, and executive recruiter at one of the oldest and largest global search firms in his area of expertise. He has personally placed thousands of professionals with top-tier companies over the last 20-plus years. Jack is passionate about advocating for job seekers. In doing so, he founded a start-up company, WeCruitr, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The mission of WeCruitr is to help people in need and make the job search more humane and enjoyable. As a proponent of career growth, Jack shares his insider interviewing tips and career advancement secrets as a Senior Contributor for Forbes. He also covers timely topics related to corporations, high-profile people, Wall Street, politics and other important matters. The pieces offer insight into the news and how it may impact your career. Jack is the author of How To Get A Job In Tough Times, as well as the host of Happy And Succeeding In The Future Of Work and cohost of the Blind Ambition podcast.