Apple to axe more than 600 employees in California

Apple CEO Tim Cook
Apple intends to axe more than 600 employees in California, weeks after pulling the plug its ill-fated electric car and smartwatch display projects.
Callum Keown for Barron’s:
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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:
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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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