Sure but the big faang stocks literally print more money than every other company (idk maybe aramco or berkshire can compete, but nothing else). So something's working there.
Casinos print money too and farms don't. The amount of cash a business throws off is only somewhat related to how much work it requires and how useful it is.
I think you have it backwards. Highly profitable companies with high growth can afford to be wasteful. Being wasteful isn't what made them successful.
idk that this conclusion can be made. maybe the wasteful work culture is what enables them to generate high profits...
Assuming that in a creative art like programming that efficiency (time spent at keyboard? and cost cutting? you can get 100 staff for the price of 98+ perks!) are the route to profitability is questionable. Add in supply/demand and competition for top talent and skimping on goodies is just bizarre.
What's working is that they have basically monopolies. Hard not to make money when there's no competition.