Rare Layoffs at Apple Impact Dozens in Sales Roles

Apple is making cuts and has laid off dozens of people in sales roles, reports Bloomberg. Apple is aiming to simplify the way that it sells products to businesses, schools, and governments.

Apple Park View
Affected employees received notice over the past couple of weeks, and positions eliminated include account managers for large businesses, schools, and government agencies, plus staff at Apple's briefing centers for major customers. Employees were reportedly surprised by the layoffs, but they are able to apply for other positions within Apple.

Apple told Bloomberg that it is making changes in its sales team to better connect with customers.

To connect with even more customers, we are making some changes in our sales team that affect a small number of roles. We are continuing to hire and those employees can apply for new roles.

While Apple says it is restructuring some of the sales team, affected employees apparently believe that Apple wants to move more sales to third-party retailers. Pushing sales through retailers allows Apple to save money by cutting salary costs.

Apple is giving employees over a month to find a new role. Those who haven't gotten another position in the company by January 20 will receive a severance package.

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Top Rated Comments

yabeweb Avatar
6 days ago at 12:08 pm

It's to pay for the patent trolls. All those wishing Apple to "pay up" are literally asking Apple to lay off people's jobs. Great going, guys.
Hope this is a joke I do not get as non native speaker ....cause it does not make much sense..
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
6 days ago at 12:11 pm

Hope this is a joke I do not get as non native speaker ....cause it does not make much sense..
I'm a native speaker, and agree, it does not make much sense.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0815 Avatar
6 days ago at 12:19 pm
Laying of dozens of people (especially for such a big cooperation) is these days nothing - other (bigger) companies are laying off thousands of people (and its often not reported on - my company just let go of tons of people, and we can't even figure out how many were fired, you just find out by people no longer responding), especially in the tech sector. If you look for the tech job these days - good luck, you need it. If you are looking for a technical talent, now is a great time.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mjs916 Avatar
6 days ago at 04:16 pm

Maximize profits by cutting people to pay for the patent bill. Exactly what I said.
You think “dozens” of sales employees salaries covers the cost of a patent verdict? That Massimo one was like $630 million. If we allowed a generous salary of $100,000 a year that’s over 6300 layoffs to reach that amount.

I could just as easily pick any other expenditure (new spoons at Caffe Macs!) and claim that’s why they were laid off.

If you ask me (you didn’t but I’m gonna tell you anyway) , “To connect with even more customers” sounds like those employees are losing their roles in Sales with the option of leaving the company or staying but going into some other position like phone or chat support. Some of them won’t want to do that and will leave. Some will stay and start on a new path within the company.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kotaKat Avatar
6 days ago at 12:08 pm
Apple was never too charitable when it came to business-to-business dealings. As much as you could get a lot of human support and handholding (probably the only thing it was worth), deals were never there. What was their volume pricing deals again - like five bucks off an iPad at 10x or 100x quantity or something?

Makes sense to pass B2B over to firms like CDW/PCMall (as absurd as it sounds) in the long run, speaking as someone who’s done a lot of volume hardware purchasing and dealt with account reps across the board.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
6 days ago at 12:18 pm

There are some that believe Apple is automatically guilty of violating patents simply because they are owned by someone else. But it's not the simple. Some patent owners are "trolls" that are abusing the patent system just to make free money.
We understand what was said, but the point was that what was said does not make any logical sense.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)