Tech giant and world¡¯s first company to hit the $3 trillion market value, Apple, plans to slow down hiring and spending growth next year in some units. This is to cope with a potential economic downturn, as per Bloomberg report, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The potential move would see Apple join a growing pool of American corporations including Meta Platforms and Tesla in slowing down hiring amid recession fears.
A Bloomberg report said the changes would not affect all teams and that the tech giant was still planning an aggressive product launch schedule in 2023, which includes a mixed-reality headset, which would be its first major new category since 2015.
As per its last annual report, Apple had about 154,000 full-time equivalent employees, as Reuters report.
The slowdown in hiring was also announced by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai last week, when he told his employees in a memo that the tech giant will slow down hiring at the company through the rest of the year and 2023, while also keeping a check on investments for the same period of time.
Earlier this month, a Bloomberg report mentioned that Meta Platforms too was slashing its hiring goals for engineers by at least 30% this year and warned all staff to brace for a severe economic downturn. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had told employees that he¡¯s anticipating ¡°one of the worst downturns that we¡¯ve seen in recent history,¡± according to an audio recording of the weekly Q&A session, obtained by Reuters.
Last week, another tech giant, Microsoft had announced layoff of about 1800 employees, which is roughly 1% of its total workforce. Microsoft also?reportedly slowed hiring in the Windows, Teams and Office groups.?Elon Musk¡¯s Tesla too, has already begun its process of 10% layoffs.
Earlier this month, the IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva had said that the possibility of global recession next year cannot be ruled out.
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In recent months, fears have risen about the aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to tame an unabating surge in inflation could tip the economy into a recession. The price pressures have also raised worries that customers could curb spending on discretionary items like smartphones, a Reuters report mentioned.
Smartphone shipments have declined 9% in the second quarter, according to data from global technology market analyst firm Canalys. Despite that, tech giant Apple's iPhones remain among the most sold phones in the world, with the company holding a 17% market share just behind market leader Samsung, the data showed.
Every year, Tim Cook¡¯s Apple typically launches a new version of its iPhone and other wearable products in the month of September, ahead of the busy holiday season.
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