I can't speak formally for any of the companies, of course, but I suspect like another commenter said, its an opportunity to cut fat. Beyond that, the last two years saw many tech companies grow stupid-fast. For example, Snap hired more than 50% of their pre-layoff workforce since start of the pandemic. Google, Meta have both doubled headcount in a similar (slightly longer) time scale.
I suspect that despite being rich, headcount is expensive. If the median googler makes 300k, it probably costs Google 500k to employ. A team of 100 is $50M! A news article claimed google hired 10k people in Q2, so that'd be $5B in commitment (probably actually less, but on that scale). Doesn't take many quarters of that sort of growth to outpace income.
The median googler does not make 300k. The median Google engineer/manager in the US might make 300k but Google hires plenty of people in other roles and in other countries.
I suspect that despite being rich, headcount is expensive. If the median googler makes 300k, it probably costs Google 500k to employ. A team of 100 is $50M! A news article claimed google hired 10k people in Q2, so that'd be $5B in commitment (probably actually less, but on that scale). Doesn't take many quarters of that sort of growth to outpace income.