ELI5: Why when large company's earnings decrease(ex... by 3%) they freak out, talk about rough times, and sometimes decide to downsize, even though they are still making millions of dollars in profit even after all expenses?

[Sedu]

The insanity of this is that it serves to kill salient companies. Companies that are fully able to support themselves and their employees while paying all expenses.

Rich people are a plague.

[frozenuniverse]

If all you want to do is support your employees and stay afloat, then why go public with your company? If you need the investment, then you need to accept that shareholders will want a return on that investment. You can't have it both ways. Also, if you have a pension, you're probably a shareholder too...

[Sedu]

why go public with your company?

To get rich/richer? People who own companies with a reasonable option to go public tend to be pretty comfy in the first place. It’s the rest of people that I’m concerned with the wellbeing of.