Apple Inc, for missing its revenue forecast for the holiday quarter and lower-than-expected iPhone sales, will be cutting back on hiring for some divisions, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier this month, Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer, in a letter written to investors, had informed them about company’s latest efforts, particularly in China and said some divisions would cut hiring. And very next day, in a meeting, he disclosed to the employees about the reduced hiring while responding to a question from an employee about imposition of hiring freeze, according to Bloomberg report. He said that the determination of division to cut back hiring is yet to be done, but major groups like artificial intelligence team would be going on hiring employees at a faster pace than the other groups. He remained emphasizing that a division’s hiring rates are not the scale for measuring its importance to Apple’s future.
In recent years, Apple has been facing slow pace of headcount growth, which in past decade remained hiring pretty largely. In recent fiscal year about 9,000 workers were added by the Apple for a total of 132,000 and that was nearly 7,000 in year earlier.
The CEO also said that for building out its original content, plans to open new offices in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles area would not be affected by the hiring cutback.
The iPhone sales dropdown brings us an opportunity for new innovation, emphasized some senior vice presidents, after the Cook’s talk with employees, in meetings held separately with vice presidents, directors and managers within their groups, said a source.
Earlier few months, Apple has passed the market capitalization threshold of $1 trillion, but has lost almost $300 billion in its value since then.
On Jan. 2, Apple cut revenue guidance for the holiday quarter, which was the first time Apple reduced its sales forecast in almost two decades.
