While big tech companies have been around for decades, the astronomical rise of social media and the smartphone served as a catalyst for more and more tech start-ups becoming economic powerhouses. The demand for new technology connected to the internet and social media went hand in hand with an expansion of the corresponding companies' workforce.

In light of the recent news of Elon Musk planning to slash Twitter's workforce of 7,500 by 50 percent, this week's racing bar looks at the growth of the workforce of some of the most prominent tech companies since 2004.

Microsoft and Apple take first and second place, respectively, from the start. This, of course, is to be expected, since both companies were founded in the 1970s and experienced decades of growth across all dimensions, owed to their innovations in hardware and software products. Meta, on the other hand, took eleven years since its founding to employ more than 10,000 full-time workers, but went on a hiring spree during the pandemic, increasing its workforce by 60 percent between the end of 2019 and the end of 2021. The missing A from the GAFAM group, Amazon, was not included in this ranking since the company doesn't differentiate between full-time and part-time employees in its SEC filings. An inclusion would also distort comparability, since Amazon is not only a tech, but also a logistics company.

While the list prominently features U.S. and European companies, China can hold its own when it comes to the size of the workforce of its big tech corporations. Tencent crossed the six-figure mark in terms of employment in 2021, joining the ranks of the aforementioned Microsoft and Apple as well as Alphabet, Google's parent company.

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