Tech's Worry

Tech's Worry
Investing in Tech

Even as tech companies dominate the markets, they have a new reason to worry: recruiting talent. On Monday night, President Donald Trump suspended the issuance of H-1B visas for the rest of the year. These visas allow U.S. companies to sponsor and recruit skilled foreign workers. It has long been a tool used by tech companies.  

Barron's Eric Savitz notes that Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook are among the most frequent sponsors of H-1B visas. Sure enough, their executives were not pleased with Trump's action. Here's a sampling of their responses in Eric's story: 

Amazon:
We oppose the administration’s short-sighted action. Preventing high skilled professionals from entering the country and contributing to America’s economic recovery puts American’s global competitiveness at risk. The value of high-skilled visa programs is clear, and we are grateful for the many Amazon employees from around the world that have come to the U.S. to innovate new products and services for our customers. Welcoming the best and the brightest global talent to the U.S. is more important than ever, and we will continue to support efforts that will preserve their ability to strengthen our economy.

Google: 
Immigrants have not only fueled technological breakthroughs and created new businesses and jobs but have also enriched American life. America’s continued success depends on companies having access to the best talent from around the world. Particularly now, we need that talent to help contribute to America’s economic recovery.

Facebook:
President Trump’s latest proclamation uses the Covid-19 pandemic as justification for limiting immigration. In reality, the move to keep highly-skilled talent out of the U.S. will make our country’s recovery even more difficult. America is a nation of immigrants and our economy and country benefit when we encourage talented people from around the world to live, work, and contribute here. That’s more true now than ever. Highly-skilled visa holders play a critical role in driving innovation—at Facebook and at organizations across the country—and that’s something we should encourage, not restrict.

Tech's stellar run will be one of many topics addressed Wednesday as Barron's continues its weekly "Investing in Tech" virtual conference series. Join us tomorrow to talk about the future of payments with Margaret Keane, the CEO of Synchrony. And for our chat with Jonathan Neman, the co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, on how tech helped to build a nationwide salad chain.

I'll also be chatting with my colleagues Ben Levisohn and Carleton English about the rally in tech stocks and what a suddenly hot IPO market says about investors' appetite for risk.
Please join us tomorrow. You can register here for the free event.