More Layoffs, Acquisitions, and SpaceX Becomes AI Company

Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing

The Motley Fool

Investing, Business

4.3 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are layoffs starting to backfire in Silicon Valley? As Robinhood and Rivian announce job cuts, employees at Meta Platforms are starting to revolt against job cuts and reassignments into jobs they didn’t sign up for. Plus, we discuss Fox buying Roku, SpaceX’s $60 billion acquisition, and play the World Cup of Investing. Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Emily Flippen discuss: - Robinhood and Rivian Layoffs - Are Layoffs Backfiring? - Fox Buys Roku, But Why? - SpaceX Buys Cursor - World Cup of Investing - Stocks On Our Radar Companies discussed: Petrobras (PBR), Mercado Libre (MELI), ASML (ASML), Spotify (SPOT), Samsung, Tencent (TCEHY), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), NVIDIA (NVDA), Life Time Holdings (LTH), Rivian (RIVN), Meta Platforms (META), Robinhood (HOOD), Roku (ROKU), Fox (FOXA), SpaceX (SPCX). Host: Travis Hoium Guests: Lou Whiteman, and Emily Flippen Engineer: Dan Boyd Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is there a new problem with the layoffs in tech?
0:05.0	Motley Fool, Hidden Gems Investing starts now.
0:10.0	Welcome to Motley Cool, Hidden Gems Investing.
0:12.0	I'm Travis Hoym, joined today by Lou Whiteman and Emily Flippin.
0:16.0	And we are going to get to the hot topic of the day.
0:19.0	That's the SpaceX IPO and the acquisition of cursor that was officially announced this week.
0:24.3	But, Emily, I wanted to start with some of the layoff news around the market, around technology companies.
0:30.0	We had Rivian announced some layoffs this week.
0:32.7	We had Robin Hood announced layoffs.
0:35.0	And the other big thing is Medas layoffs, which was I think 8,000 people over the past
0:40.2	couple of weeks, kind of a rolling layoff that they've had seems to be hitting their culture.
0:45.3	Now, we're investors.
0:46.7	And so we're looking at this from an investment standpoint.
0:49.6	Typically, layoffs are, have kind of been cheered over the past few years because it's cost
0:53.9	cutting. Companies are going to be more profitable. But it seems like, especially at a company like meta, we're starting to see the downside that, hey, if that comes at the cost of your culture and people actually wanting to work for you long term, maybe this isn't the right strategy. So how in the world should we think about some of these layoffs as they're announced? Well, I'm just feeling shocked that Meta still claiming to have a culture after all of these
1:14.1	years of the number of directions that Zuckerberg has taken that company.
1:18.4	I'm shocked that anybody at the company still feels like there's a cohesive culture.
1:21.6	So I understand the complaints there, but there's no doubt that layoffs, of course, reduce morale
1:26.5	across the board.
1:27.4	Nobody likes to see their friends, their course, reduce morale across the board. Nobody likes to see
1:28.4	their friends, their coworkers leave the company. Nobody likes to feel like their only livelihood is
1:33.8	threatened. But what I think is really interesting about this dynamic is that, to your point,
	...

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