Unless they were planning on growing transaction volume more

I'm British, so I appreciate that there's a difference in approach across the pond, but I still think this is a shitty thing to do. They are still growing (and setting records it would seem).

Just hold on to the staff and swallow the small dent in opex.

Not how it works from a financial analysis point of view. When interest rates rise money further down the line is rapidly devalued and cash flows in the near future are reprioritized. And firing people today and taking small layoff costs is much more accretive to the bottom line than growth down the line.

Also: Seems like the whole of VC is now on the FCF/Opex control train.

Pretty simple.

You plan on x growth happening, so you hire assuming x will happen.

Say x/2 happens. You now overhired. Even if x is still pretty good.

Corporations have fiduciary duty to the their investors, not their employees.

Is that legally speaking? Ethically speaking? Or financially speaking?

And which one is really more important to humanity?

People own companies. Just like people own tvs, computers, phones. Do you ever go to someone and say "hey, are you using your phone in the way that's best for humanity?"

Stripe is a pre-IPO company with their employees holding equity.

That's literally what the letter is saying.