Highlights

• Apple has conducted four rounds of layoffs in the past eight months.
• The company recently laid off 100 employees from its services division in Apple Books and Apple News.
• Despite the layoffs, the company continues to retain senior employees to maintain shareholder confidence.

Reports of layoffs and downsizing are common in today’s economy.

We often hear stories of tech giants laying off hundreds and thousands of employees in one quarter.

Almost every big tech firm has been in the headlines in the past for such stories, be it Microsoft, Google or Meta.

This year, however, Apple is leading this front.

The company in the past eight months have had four rounds of job cuts.

While the number on paper might not be as big as some other layoff figures we have heard, for a company like Apple that has maintained a long tradition of retentions, this is huge.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has recently laid off around 100 employees from its services division.

The layoffs mainly affected teams from Apple Books and Apple News.

Gurman mentions, “This past Tuesday, Apple told employees in its services division that it’s eliminating about 100 jobs, including engineering roles and software testing positions.”

However, what grabs attention is that despite these cuts, CEO Tim Cook has continued a longstanding practice of retaining senior employees. 

Apple often retains senior staff on the payroll even when they contribute little to daily operations.

The strategy admittedly is aimed at maintaining shareholder confidence.

The practice of keeping senior staff on payroll began after Steve Jobs’ passing.

Later Cook persuaded key figures like Bob Mansfield and Jony Ive to stay with the company, even after they let go of key roles.

The most recent example is CFO Luca Maestri.

While Maestri is stepping down from his position in 2025, he will remain at Apple to provide counsel.

Previously this year, Apple laid off the people working on the Apple Car project, the micro-LED project and the employees who refused to relocate.

Apple also had to let go of its retail employees earlier this year.

These layoffs are seen as a shift in Apple’s priorities, with the company focusing on new ventures like XR (Extended Reality) with Apple Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence.

However, the contrast between retaining underutilised senior employees just to keep shareholder confidence while laying off productive staff has raised concerns about the company’s strategy.

FAQs

Q1. How many layoffs has Apple conducted in 2024?

Answer. Apple has conducted four rounds of layoffs in the eight months of 2024 so far.

The most recent layoffs affected around 100 employees from its services division, including teams from Apple Books and Apple News.

Q2. Who is replacing Apple CFO Luca Maestri?

Answer.  Apple has named Kevan Parekh,  currently VP of Financial Planning and Analysis, as the replacement of CFO Luca Maestri.

Q3. Why does Apple retain senior staff after they resign?

Answer. Apple retains senior staff to maintain shareholder confidence, a practice that started after Steve Jobs’ passing.

Despite this, the contrast between retaining underutilized senior employees and laying off productive staff has raised concerns about the company’s strategy.

Also Read: Apple Announces CFO Transition, Names Kevan Parekh as Luca Maestri’s Successor

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