Facebook now has the world’s largest open-plan office, complete with a nine-acre rooftop picnic area; Google is seeking planning permission for an even grander campus than its existing Googleplex; and Apple’s $5bn “mothership” is two-thirds the size of the Pentagon. By coincidence, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index recently hit 5,000 for the first time since March 2000. As in every boom, the bulls say “this time is different”. Companies like Google, Apple and Facebook are realistically priced, highly profitable and likely to remain so. “Still, a New Yorker looking up at the Pan Am, Chrysler and General Motors buildings might recall wistfully that the same must once have been said of those titans, too”.    (The Economist, editorial)

What goes up usually comes down.  The shareholders, who supposedly own the company, don’t invest in luxury for the workers.  And luxury itself does not of itself guarantee good work.   The CEOs of Google, Apple and Facebook seem to be developing delusions of grandeur and may be losing sight of what they are there for,  normally the beginning of the end.  Thank you, Economist, for the timely reminder!