As mass layoffs spread, is the party for Silicon Valley over?

The atmosphere is changing in Silicon Valley amid rising fears of a recession, slowing growth after record profits during the pandemic and antitrust scrutiny. Technology firms large and small, including Google, Amazon and Meta, are laying off tens of thousands of employees in response. Some of these companies are preaching austerity measures and even asking their gigantic employees to act like startups again.

The survival of Big Tech is not in doubt. What’s unclear is how Silicon Valley will try to adapt. Many big tech companies are downsizing for the first time in their history, and it’s been years since none of them introduced a product or service that truly changed the world. Inevitably, the steps these companies take in trying to change their business and internal culture will have repercussions far beyond the tech industry, as tech companies tend to influence corporate America as a whole.

Stay tuned for all of Recode’s coverage of the changing atmosphere going on in Silicon Valley right now.