Retire the term “layoffs” in favor of “promoting outwards,” said Bernard Arnault, French billionaire art collector and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) CEO, during an investors call at the end of January.
Arnault coined the new term in acknowledgment of the social networking company Meta’s plan to cut 5% of its lowest-performing staff this year (approximately 3,600 jobs), noting that LMVH’s acquired luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. will follow suit.
The billionaire explained that in his conversation with Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg, the pair determined that performance-based downsizing is “about giving employees the opportunity to embrace new challenges beyond our organizations. They’re being promoted outwards, so to speak.”
How thoughtful … They really do care!
One could liken it to telling a kid that the family dog “moved to a big farm” instead of saying it ran away or died — “look at all these opportunities you might have now that you’re not saddled with a full-time salaried job with benefits and health insurance through us!”
Layoffs at Tiffany’s (2025) does have a nice ring to it for a sequel, though.
The billionaire luxury conglomerate CEO defended Mark Zuckerberg’s move to lay off Meta employees.
