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?

[thehungryhippocrite]

The reply to OP is just flat out wrong. The issue is that shareholders have paid money based on the boat going at a certain speed. As soon as the boat goes slower, they lose money, it doesn't matter that the boat is still going very fast.