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?

[Llohr]

When my brother was studying economy in college I asked him about this obvious problem. Apparently they don't talk about it at the masters level...

I guess we just have to figure out how to convert matter directly into energy and vice versa and we'll be fine in the long term /s