To be fair, I heard this story from a friend who actually worked at the company.
From what I know, the team was gathered for a standard Monday meeting at 10am local time. Meetings of this type are held regularly and are a team update meeting. The CEO joined in, remotely, drunk.
The discussion was pretty typical until it turned to status updates. At one point, said CEO freaked out, announced he was “temporarily laying off some of the devs”. Calling them useless talent, and that he would “hire cheap devs from india”.
Being “temporarily laid off” also means that severence wouldn't be required, and that he may contact them. Which I guess he said he wouldn't do. So… no severence. Also causing a good portion of the HR team to quit on the spot. Can't say I blame them.
- If you're on vacation, be on vacation. Leave someone in charge, etc.
- Being under the influence of anything and going to a meeting is a bad idea.
Stories like this just boost my confidence in the opinion that the tech industry isn't dying because of ai or economic fluctuations. It's being actively killed off because of bad management making even worse decisions.