How Much Do Tech Companies Make Per Employee?
We have been taught in school productivity, and as with all things economic, the measuring unit is money. A low value manufacturing industry has low productivity because it produces less revenue per employee while a service or product development phase is often high productivity.
As the U.S. limps back from recession, the tech industry has been hailed as a boon for growth and job creation.
But upon closer inspection of multi-billion dollar valuations and scrappy startups on their way to profitability, numbers from technology companies in the U.S. and the numbers are staggering..
Facebook, which some have valued at $100 billion after filing for an IPO last week, employs a mere 3,000 people. Compare that with General Motors, which raised the biggest IPO in history in 2010. General Motors’ estimated market cap at the time of this writing is only $41.4 billion, and they employ a whopping 202,000 workers to create that value.
This should come as no surprise. It takes a lot more people to build a car than to build an app. And while a car sells to one customer, an app sells to millions and billions.
How much money and value is being pulled in per employee? And which tech companies are getting the biggest bang for their payroll buck? Research and analysis firm Statista have put together these handy charts to show which companies are maximizing employee return.
2012 – The Year Where It Happens
What happens? Actually, there are cross roads in 2012 for a lot of the economies. Back in 2011, it was said it will be a year of 2 halves. Now in 2012, that is being brought up again. I do think volatility will be lesser in 2012 as compared to 2H 2011.
U.S.
The economy has probably picked up speed in the last few months and will grow moderately in 2012, staving off the need for additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve, a Reuters poll in December. Payrolls rose 200,000 in December, double the gain in November. A weekly measure of consumer confidence ended 2011 at a five-month high. And manufacturers reported their business in December grew at the fastest pace in six months. Companies added 1.64 million employees in 2011, the best year for the American worker since 2006, after a 940,000 increase in 2010. Even with the gains, little headway has been made in recovering the 8.75 million jobs lost as a result of the recession that ended in June 2009. GDP grew 1.8 percent last year, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Even though the jobless rate dropped to 8.5 percent, it is still very high. And the massive US$15.17 trillion debt is slowing rolling into the world’s concern. In 2012 GDP is estimated to expand by as much as 2.5 percent.
China
A fast growing economy always have numerous threats that surfaces. For China, the threat of inflation retreated somewhat with authorities considering lowering interest rates for the first time since 2008. China’s home prices fell for a fourth month in December, something the government hoped for in addressing a possible property bubble. Hard landing probability lowered with small manufacturing growth from China. However, there appears larger and not so visible signs of trouble. Local government debt through investment and financing platforms have attracted borrowings of conservatively estimated 10 trillion Yuan. The funds are used for infastructural and property projects and the key concern now is repayment.
To meet their commitments local governments need to generate income from land sales, which is fuelling unrest in the world’s second largest economy as residents increasingly complain that land is being unlawfully seized. A recent downturn in China’s housing market will also weigh on the finances of cities and provinces that had planned to pay off debt by selling land at high prices. Corruption allegations against local governments’ methods to raise money and pay debts have culminated in protests, another source of roadblock for economic growth.
Singapore Sits Moodily Atop Wealth Pole
This is an article that appeared in The Business Times. We, as Singaporeans should be appreciative that we live in a wealthy and comfortable environment. Compared to the world population, which is exceedingly poor, Singaporean middle class is considered well-off.
Read the full article here.
I do understand the discontent and anxieties of the middle class too. On one hand, in monetary terms, our generation have huge salary and wealth increase from our parents’ generation, on the other hand fierce competition for space, opportunities in a small crowded island means real standard of living have not improved very much. I believe many Singaporeans dream to have a relaxed and comfortable life. However, as the situation is, the consensus view is that if a working adult does not strive doubly hard, he/she will find himself/herself at the bottom of a huge population of wealthy residents, with difficulty in purchases such as a home.
Overall, I think there needs to be a change in mentality in what Singaporean pursue in life. We have always looked to Switzerland as a country to be envious of. Perhaps, more effort should be spent thinking about how to mould a comfortable a stress free society.
Get A Second Opinion On Your Investment
I recently decided to go on a campaign, to call for readers seeking second opinions and explanation of any investment(s) they have entered into.
One of the reasons I feel motivated as a Financial Adviser is that I wanted to put in effort to use my knowledge and capabilities to give a objective and accurate assessment of ANY financial investment. I have this thinking that advise can be based on providing information alone, not sales presentation. In this scenario, I provide investment advise and analysis on any investment and products the client is deciding on and/or is introduced to.
If you have any investment which you have entered into or deciding on now, it may help to get quality and impartial second opinion. I have experience dealing with clients who have absolutely no understanding of the investment they entered into. Read here
Information Required for any Investment
- Amount:
- Product Name:
- Product Provider:
- Product Code:
- Date entered:
- A url with the specific investment information:
Email the information together with a scanned copy of the product fact sheet, if any, to info@managedwealthsingapore.com. If it is a portfolio, please indicate that all the funds are in a portfolio and I will comment on the whole portfolio.
Regrets Of The Dying – Bronnie Ware
I am sure some of you have read this before. It is a short article by Bronnie Ware.
“For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
Read More…
Advantages Of Investments Structured As Insurance
Over the last few years, a type of insurance policy has been gaining popularity in Singapore. Where investors have sometimes find themselves putting money into ILPs with insurance cover for investment purposes, which I have discouraged in this POST, there is a type of ILPs which is meant for investments. They are commonly called the 101 Products, Insurance Wrappers or the Portfolio Bonds in Singapore. The development of this type of policies arises from tax considerations in Europe and US, since investment returns in the policy is deemed insurance proceeds and is treated differently for taxation. A variation of this in Europe is the Private Placement Life Insurance, which generally comes in larger quantum.
Investors pay premium, regularly or a lump sum to start, into the policy which will be used in investments into funds or other financial instruments. The policy lasts for a number of years at the choice of the investor. There is also the flexibility of stopping investments and drawing funds out of the policy after a certain time period of about 1 to 2 years.
Main Features that differ from a policy for Insurance purpose: (exact details may differ with different companies’ policies)
NO insurance charges. The reason for this is because there is negligible insurance cover. The policy gives an insurance Read More…
Investing in Private Companies
Recently, I have been exposed to a different kind of investments. This is the lesser explored kind of investment as it usually involve more participation and longer search and understanding process. I was involved in several small businesses and startups, mostly in business development. I also gained knowledge of meetings involving proposals and updates from other businesses of investors who invests in businesses, from region of $50 thousand to a few hundred thousands. An associate of mine have also set up a business facilitating setting up of offshore private investment companies with wholly own some of these businesses.
This got me interested in this form of investment, investments in small businesses, not as a executive or management in the business, but as an investor seeking returns. Is it really profitable? It really depends of course, each deal is different, there are coffeeshops and IT start ups. As this is meant to be a blog entry, not a guide book, I will share some of my experiences.
After Optimism of A Plan To Save Europe, Crisis Again.
Just one week after European leaders agreed to bolster lenders’ capital and boost the region’s rescue fund in a bid to stem the debt crisis, Greece Prime Minister, at pressure holding on to political power, sends the world uneasy again with a decision.
Last week, European leaders agreed to boost the firepower of the region’s rescue fund to 1 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) and persuaded bondholders to accept a 50 percent loss on their holdings of Greek government debt. Banks will, as part of the plan, need to raise capital to insulate themselves against losses on government debt. Still to be decided are the details of the haircut, what assets banks can count as capital, how banks will raise it, and whether future bank debt is backed by a national or European guarantee. The European Financial Stability Facility which includes the possibility of China, Brazil and Russia involvement. Having the an agreement on the plan assured global financial markets that the details will be worked out and Europe will avoid a messy default. The European Financial Stability Facility which includes the possibility of China, Brazil and Russia involvement.
Europe Banks and Financial Services Index rose 8.8 percent higher in London the following day. Societe Generale jumped 23 percent and Credit Agricole 22 percent. Barclays climbed 18 percent, BNP Paribas (BNP) SA 17 percent and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Germany’s largest lender, 16 percent.
Of Art and Wealth
I have been meaning to write about art investments for some time. According to Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini, Singapore’s millionaires are quite fond of having art as part of their investments in luxury items, at 26% of value of luxury investments. The top preference are small items: gems, watches and other jewelry.
Investments in art is not only restricted to the very wealthy. As the middle-class art buyers in wealthy Singapore grow, galleries are aiming lower, taking advantage of an art-buying boom. Growth of so called affordable art and second Affordable Art Fair is reported HERE.
I recently met a friend who started a online Art portal for emerging countries’ artists – www.artyii.com. She wrote an article for Business Times as an introduction to art investment.
After A Third Quarter Market Down Comes Opportunities
Past 2 months have seen financial markets took a turn for the worst. Beginning with the US government debt downgrade and following up with European debt crisis. Though, all of the reasons existed well before, it is the way investors flip-flop – focusing on just the positives at one moment and just the negatives at another – and the speed at which it happens that caused so much volatility.
The European Central Bank’s move to keep euro-area banks afloat is buying governments more time to recapitalize them as Greece edges closer to default. ECB will resume covered-bond purchases and reintroduce year-long loans for banks as the sovereign-debt crisis threatens to freeze money markets.
Equity markets will remain highly volatile given that Greece is under increasing difficulty to stick to
targets set for its austerity measures. The tough cost cutting measures in Greece have strung the economy and tax income making it even harder to lower budget deficit.
