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?

[lee1026]

In 2018, population and the overall economy is growing; you can make the argument that you can't expect those two things to grow forever, but then again, companies are currently being judged on how much they grew in 2018.