Apple Inc. plans to slow hiring and spending growth next year in some divisions to cope with a potential economic downturn, reports Bloomberg News, quoting unnamed “people with knowledge of the matter.”
The article says that “the decision stems from a move to be more careful during uncertain times, though it isn’t a companywide policy.” Purportedly, the changes won’t affect all teams. Bloomberg adds that “Apple is still planning an aggressive product launch schedule in 2023 that includes a mixed-reality headset, its first major new category since 2015.”
The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) is a little skeptical about the article, although its author, Mark Gurman, is almost always right in his coverage of Apple. I’m just not sure which departments the tech giant could reasonably slow hiring and spending since it continues to develop new iterations of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, etc., and all related software.
And it’s not like Apple is hurting financially. Last quarter the company reported $97.3 billion of revenue; that’s an increase of 9% year-over-year. The company also reported a profit of $25 billion and earnings per share of $1.52.
Perhaps Apple is planning to reduce (or eliminate) the team working on the rumored “Apple Car.” As I’ve said before, I’d skeptical an Apple-made vehicle will ever see the light of day.
