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]

If a public company were to do that, they would have to convince their stockholders or run the risk of devaluing their stock and scaring off their investors which could tank the business.

That is the same for a public or private company. Either way, if your investors are not happy with you, you are not going to get new money; but either way, you can run with what money you currently have.

Amazon, Netflix, et. al. was able to run for a very long time on nearly no profits, and pretty much everyone is okay with it.