The tech industry's long-standing high flyers are growing by downsizing.

There's also a perception that investors often value cash above all else. The tech industry has long preferred to reinvest surplus funds into growth, adding jobs and experimenting with the next big thing. But after a year of massive layoffs and capital conservation, Meta announced Thursday that it would pay its first quarterly dividend of 50 cents a share while also approving an additional $50 billion share buyback plan. .

“The key for these companies is whether they can reinvent themselves,” Neuberger Berman analyst Daniel Flax said in an interview Friday on CNBC's “Squawk Box.” They “continue to invest in the future and continue to play aggressively while managing spending in this challenging environment,” he said.

Amazon hasn't been very keen on transferring cash to shareholders, but the topic is certainly being discussed. The company launched a $10 billion share buyback program in 2022, but has not announced anything since then. During Thursday's earnings call, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak asked about plans for additional capital gains.

In response, Treasurer Brian Olsabsky said, “We're really excited to actually be asked that question.” “No one has asked me that in three years.”

“We have annual discussions and discussions about our capital structure policy, if not more frequently,” Olsavsky added, but said the company has nothing to announce. “We are pleased to have improved our liquidity at the end of 2023 and will continue to strive to improve it,” he said.

After years of seemingly unfettered growth, the world's largest internet company is certainly entering a new era. They still continue to search for the best technical talent, especially in areas such as artificial intelligence, but growth in employee numbers is being measured. Increasing headcount in certain parts of your business may mean downsizing others.

For example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors that when it comes to AI, “We're fighting to win here. We will continue to invest aggressively in this space to build cutting-edge clusters.” I'm looking forward to it.”

Asked about the company's headcount expansion in a later call, Zuckerberg said new hires would be “relatively minimal compared to what we've traditionally had,” adding: “We want to stay lean.”

Olsavsky said most teams at Amazon are “trying to maintain headcount levels, but are probably looking at reducing headcount as we can drive efficiencies at scale.”

This story is playing out across Silicon Valley. January was the busiest month for technology layoffs since March, with about 31,000 people laid off at 118 companies, according to the website Layoffs.fyi. Amazon and Alphabet last month added more job cuts to their 2023 payrolls, and Microsoft cut 1,900 positions in its gaming division shortly after completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Layoffs hit the cloud software market this week, with Okta announcing it would cut about 400 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, and Zoom announcing it would cut less than 2% of its workforce, or nearly 150 positions. Admitted. Zuora announced plans to cut his 8% of personnel, or nearly 125 positions, based on the latest headcount numbers.

Evan Thorne, chairman of Recruiter.com, called it a “very confusing job market.” Last year, tech companies responded to dramatically changing market conditions, including soaring inflation, rising interest rates and risk aversion during an extended bull market. Meta will cut more than 20,000 jobs in 2023, Amazon will lay off more than 27,000 people, and Alphabet will cut more than 12,000 jobs.

The economy is in a very different place today. Growth has returned to healthy levels, inflation appears to be under control, and the Federal Reserve has signaled that interest rate cuts are on the horizon this year. The unemployment rate stood at 3.7% in January, down from 6.4% three years ago, when the economy was just reopening from pandemic lockdowns. Nonfarm payrolls also increased by 353,000 people last month, the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

Tech stocks are booming, with Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft all at or near record levels.

However, the industry continues to shrink.

“Companies are still in the midst of consolidation for the first time since 2023,” Song told CNBC's “Worldwide Exchange” this week. “To really deal with the new world of 2024, we may need a reversal of skills, a different set of skills.”

Wall Street rewards technology companies for discipline and better capital allocation, but it raises questions about where to turn for big growth. With the exception of Nvidia, which he flagged for 2023 as demand for AI chips soared, no other supercap tech company is growing at its historical average.

Even Meta's better-than-expected 25% growth in Q4 is a bit misleading. That's because comparable numbers a year ago were down due to a slowdown in the digital advertising market and Apple's iOS update, which made targeting ads more difficult. Finance chief Susan Lee reminded analysts on Thursday that the company will “enter a period of increasingly strong demand” as 2024 progresses.

Analysts expect Meta's growth rate to return to the low-teens at most by the second half of this year. Growth forecasts for Amazon and Alphabet are even lower, indicating that calls for capital allocation measures could be even stronger.

Ben Ballinger, a technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, told CNBC that Meta's decision to pay a dividend was a “symbolic moment” in that regard.

“Mark Zuckerberg has signaled that he wants to take shareholders with him and emphasizes that Meta is now a mature, growing company,” Ballinger said.

— CNBC's Annie Palmer contributed to this report

clock: Meta's Q4 report suggests it's making the most of Nvidia's chips