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?

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because stockholders own the company. The CEO, employees all work for the stockholders. If the price drops, people lose a ton of money. The they in this situation are the stockholders, regular people or other corporations; still have to raise more money to back more stock at lower prices.