Stuff is more valuable than people

This chart shows how much Alphabet, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft spend on their employees compared with capex (physical stuff like servers and data centers).

As you can see, it used to be typical for these companies to spend more on their workforce than on stuff. Often more than twice as much. But last year the lines crossed. This year, capex is expected to surpass workforce costs by $50 billion. Whoa. That’s a remarkable shift — the world’s most valuable companies are now spending more on stuff than on their workforce.


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