After Hiring Binges, Google, Facebook See Profits Per Employee Slide

The two biggest internet advertising companies—Facebook and Alphabet, the parent of Google—have long been among the most profitable in tech. But after hiring binges, both companies have seen significant declines by one profit measure, net income per employee.     

Those are among the takeaways from an analysis by The Information of the profits and revenue of the five most high-profile tech companies—Alphabet, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft—on a per-employee basis. During the calendar third quarter, which ended September 30, Alphabet had its lowest net income per employee for that period since 2014, while the same figure at Facebook was at its lowest point since 2015, as the chart above shows. Both companies saw significant increases in headcount over those periods.