Apple drops sales for the first time since 2019, but refuses to lay off employees

Tram Ho

According to Business Insider (BI), the newly released fourth-quarter business results of a series of Big Tech in Silicon Valley show a gloomy color.

Both Meta (Facebook) and Alphabet (Google) have announced that they may have to cut more costs and lay off large numbers of workers when profit growth is not as expected. Even Amazon also left open the possibility of firing more employees when business results were lower than expected.

However, Apple became a bright spot when sales fell for the first time since 2019 but still refused to lay off any employees.

During the business results report for the fourth quarter of 2022 on February 2, 2023, CEO Tim Cook affirmed that despite many difficulties, the company’s strategy has never changed. continue to invest in “improvement (Innovation) and people (People).

Apple giảm doanh số lần đầu tiên kể từ năm 2019, nhưng nhất quyết không sa thải nhân viên - Ảnh 1.

Unsatisfactory

CNBC reported that Apple had 5 percent lower sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, the first decline since 2019. Apple’s total revenue reached $117.5 billion in the quarter. IV, lower than Wall Street investors’ expectations and also 5.49% year-over-year. This is the first time since August 2017, the apple house has had lower-than-expected revenue.

Apple’s iPhone sales in the fourth quarter reached $ 65.78 billion, 8.17% lower than the same period a year ago. Mac computer products decreased by 28.66% in revenue over the same period last year, iPad decreased by 29.66% and other products such as AirPods or Apple Watch decreased by 8.3%.

Despite those difficulties, CEO Tim Cook still believes in future business results when Apple now has 2 billion users of their devices. This is an impressive number when Apple only reached 1 billion users in 2016, surpassing the 1.5 billion mark in 2020. By 2021, the record-breaking sales have brought this number to 1.8 billion. user.

This number is quite impressive given that about 3 billion users of Google’s Android operating system, equivalent to the total number of customers using other phone products other than iPhones using iOS.

In addition, the challenges that have disrupted the supply chain of the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro Max over the past time have ended and the company has been able to focus all its efforts on improving sales.

Apple giảm doanh số lần đầu tiên kể từ năm 2019, nhưng nhất quyết không sa thải nhân viên - Ảnh 2.

The only bright spot in Apple’s earnings report was service revenue growth of 6.4%, higher than expected. Effective business activities of the cloud computing segment, online payment services Apple Pay, Apple Card, online music fees… have contributed to this success.

CEO Tim Cook also said they are cutting costs and reducing hiring, but the company has never announced a large wave of layoffs like other Big Tech.

These numbers are in stark contrast to the report ending the fiscal year in September 2022, when Apple had a profit of nearly $ 100 billion, the highest in the history of the company as well as the history of the US economy.

Hope

According to Tim Cook, if it weren’t for the troubles related to the iPhone 14 supply chain, the business results of the fourth quarter of 2022, even at the worst, would only be equivalent to the same period last year. Investors also seemed to believe this explanation as Apple’s stock price fell 4% after the earnings report but ended the session down only 2%.

Meanwhile, Meta’s shares rebounded 23% on February 2 when Mark Zuckerberg announced that he would continue his strategy of cutting costs and laying off more workers. This move, although it received the support of investors, it was the cause of criticism from many employees, causing a loss of trust and affecting Facebook’s image further.

On the contrary, Tim Cook’s management style is considered to be stable and slow to the point of “boring”, which makes Apple more sympathetic from employees, users and the company’s brand image in moments of need. this difficulty.

Apple giảm doanh số lần đầu tiên kể từ năm 2019, nhưng nhất quyết không sa thải nhân viên - Ảnh 3.

During the past three years, Apple has only increased its workforce by 20%, while Meta or Amazon have recruited nearly double the number of employees.

“I think firing employees should be a last resort. While you can’t say you won’t fire someone forever, we’re trying to cut costs in other ways,” CEO Tim Cook said.

*Source: BI, CNBC, Bloomberg

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Source : Genk