At just about every tech company I've worked at probably at least 30% of the staff wasn't really needed and didn't contribute much. They were there to take some small amount of workload off the really talented people's plate. In modern times there are more efficient ways to solve than problem than simply throwing man power at it. These companies could have easily cut their workforces 5 years ago with little to no impact to the bottom line but there was just no incentive to rock the boat until economic factors dictated it.