Apple intends to axe more than 600 employees in California, weeks after pulling the plug its ill-fated electric car and smartwatch display projects.
The tech giant filed a number of notices to the state detailing the planned job cuts, Apple’s first significant layoffs since the pandemic. The workers, based across eight offices in Santa Clara, were told on March 28 and the layoffs are effective from May 27, according to the filings.
While it’s not clear which projects the layoffs relate to, Santa Clara was home to the company’s secretive car project and next-generation screen development, Bloomberg reported.
As other tech companies implemented aggressive job cuts last year, CEO Tim Cook said mass layoffs would be a “last resort.”
Apple stock has had a tough start to 2024, falling 12% this year through Thursday’s close.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
At least 87 of the people worked at an address corresponding to a secret Apple facility for its next-generation screen development, while the others were located at buildings related to the car project.
At the end of February, Apple began to wind down both initiatives, which were seen as major moonshot efforts to advance the company’s technologies or enter sizable new areas. The car project was canceled amid indecision among executives about its direction and cost concerns. The display program was shuttered due to engineering, supplier and cost challenges.
According to the reports, 371 employees were released at Apple’s main car-related office in Santa Clara, California, while dozens more at multiple satellite offices were also impacted.
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MacDailyNews Take: Good luck to all of the affected employees.
This is what happens after a decade plus with a caretaker CEO at the helm after he hits the last page of his iteration playbook, yet attempts to stay in the game for too long. – MacDailyNews, April 1, 2024
The difference between an operations guy following a static playbook — reacting to events instead of determining them — versus a visionary genius becomes ever more apparent with each passing year. – MacDailyNews, March 8, 2023
See also:
• Apple shareholders worry about ‘lack of innovation’ – April 4, 2024
• The Apple Vision Pro is ‘expensive, impractical, and clearly nowhere near ready for the mass market’ – Benedict Evans – March 22, 2024
• How an indecisive Tim Cook blew $1 billion a year on a vehicle Apple never built – March 6, 2024
• Investors impatient as Apple conspicuously lags in generative AI – February 29, 2024
• Apple’s biggest risk: Not innovating like it used to under Steve Jobs – February 14, 2024
• Microsoft, not Tim Cook’s Apple, is now the most valuable company ever – February 9, 2024
• Tim Cook is not the best person to be CEO of Apple – April 2, 2019
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It’s great to have someone always watching the bottom line to save a company money and to run as efficiently as possible.
And that person should at the #3 position in the company, behind engineering/ product development, NOT RUINING I MEAN RUNNING THE COMPANY.
Apple had ~161,000 employees at the end of FY 23. While layoffs are never fun (having been through 5 in my career), 600-700 employees laid off represent just 0.4% of the workforce. These employees have gained valuable skills and experience which should make them very marketable to other car makers or to Apple itself in other divisions.
Also, other than from Apple, who has ever heard of giving people who are to be laid off a two month notice?
If you can’t find another job in two or so months, you’re either not trying or you’re not worth it in the first place. Effectively, every one of these people should have a new job within a few weeks of their last day at Apple.
Hey, does anyone know/have a good guess how long it might take before we’ll see all their Apple Car work from these last 10+ years? Will it be 30 years 40 years? 50 years?
The pipeline has gotten so short it should be plopping out any day now.
Shoulda raised a pirate flag…
Apple needs one of Steve Job’s famous Bozo purges. They need to fire around 90% of all their employees, including Tim Cook.
By firing all the bozos they will become far more productive. Twitter fired 80% of all their employees, ie, woke bozos, and have released more features in 1 year than in the previous 10 years, and increased traffic.
https://www.cultofmac.com/530247/today-in-apple-history-apple-layoffs-clear-the-bozo-explosion/
Oh, and by having mass layoffs of all these bozos and human cruft, the stock will roar.