Apple lays off employees working on Books and News
Samuel Axon
Apple will cut 100 jobs, all in its digital services teams. Laid off employees will have 60 days to find another job in the company before it cuts ties with them altogether, according to a Bloomberg report.
Compared to some other big tech companies, layoffs are relatively uncommon at Apple. This is the fourth wave this year, but cuts so far (including this one) have been laser-focused and small in scope—a contrast with companies like Intel, Cisco, or Microsoft, which have recently made more drastic cuts of anywhere from 7 to 15 percent of their workforces.
The current set of cuts chiefly affects the Books team. Digital services like this have been a big part of Apple’s financial success in recent quarters; in just the past year, services revenue is up 14 percent. However, Books has no subscription offering, and Apple was subject to a US Department of Justice price-fixing lawsuit.
As a result, the Books service isn’t capable of producing the kinds of big revenue numbers and growth Apple is looking for. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes that Apple plans to reduce the emphasis on Books in the future, though it still has plans to add new features to the service over time.
There were also cuts to the News team, but there is not expected to be a reduced focus there. It’s also worth noting that some of these employees worked across teams, so there could be minor effects in other groups from these layoffs as well.
