HP nuked 30,000 jobs and Carly Fiorina flew away richer
30,000 people got fired and Carly Fiorina still found time to triple her salary and pick up a private jet like it was a cute little impulse buy at Sephora.
This was HP doing “restructuring,” which is corporate for “we’re about to turn human beings into a line item and call it leadership.”
Translation
your badge stops working on Friday so the stock can feel something again.
Fiorina, then CEO, oversaw layoffs in the tens of thousands while her pay ballooned. Not “oops, performance bonus,” not “one-time retention thing.” Tripled. And while the workforce was getting the “thank you for your service” email template, the exec suite was out here shopping for a jet—because nothing says “we’re all in this together” like literally leaving the atmosphere.
The Number
30,000 — that’s a small city’s worth of people getting tossed so one corner office can do a victory lap at 40,000 feet.
HP’s line was the usual “tough decisions” and “shareholder value.”
Translation
we’re cutting your job to fund our job perks, and if you complain we’ll call you ‘emotional’ in a meeting and then expense lunch.
Meanwhile, the people who actually built, sold, shipped, fixed, and supported the products got handed uncertainty, a resume rewrite, and the privilege of paying rent in an economy that charges late fees for existing.
And this isn’t some antique corporate horror story. It’s the model. Layoffs are the blood ritual, executive comp is the feast, and the jet is the little party favor they take home for being brave enough to do it.
The Bottom Line
If your company says it’s “tightening belts,” check whose belt just got upgraded to first-class leather with jet fuel on the side.
TLDR
HP axed 30,000 jobs while Carly Fiorina tripled her pay and bought a private jet—corporate austerity, but make it airborne.
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