The Four Horsemen of Tech Recession: end of pandemic-era growth, hardware lifecycles, the end of zero interest rates, and Apple’s ATT

The Four Horsemen of the Tech Recession

It really was jarring to see those employment figures the same week that tech company after tech company reported mostly disappointing earnings, and worse forecasts, all on the heels of layoffs. Even Meta, which saw a massive uptick in its stock, reported revenue that was down 4% year-over year; the stock increase was a special case where too many investors bought into Meta Myths that convinced them a company with a still strong and growing core business was somehow doomed.

That’s not to say that tech is an echo chamber: all tech companies are facing unique headwinds that don’t affect most of the economy; let’s call them the four horsemen of the tech recession.

The four horsemen, for those who didn’t grow up Christian or weren’t paying attention in Sunday School, come from the Book of Revelations sixth chapter, which opens:

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

I trust it’s not sacrilegious to have a bit of fun with the four horseman prophecy and use them to explain exactly why the tech industry is in a funk.

Full article: https://stratechery.com/2023/the-four-horsemen-of-the-tech-recession/