Gurman: Apple issues fourth known round of layoffs this year with Services job cuts

Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg that Apple has cut around 100 jobs in the Services division. While relativity small compared to other technology firms over the last few years, the layoffs are notable for Apple. That’s because CEO Tim Cook has repeated that layoffs are a last resort for the company.

Apple News & Books

Gurman reports that many of the job cuts affect the Apple Books and Apple News divisions, including engineer roles.

Apple News, which has a paid subscription option for unlocking magazines and puzzles, will remain a focus for Services revenue.

Apple Books, on the other hand, will be less of a focus for the company going forward, Gurman reports.

That could be because Apple Books is not seen as a vehicle for revenue growth based on its performance over the last decade.

Why target Apple Books?

Why? For starters, Apple has so far shown no interest in a subscription model for the Apple Bookstore.

Amazon, on the other hand, has its subscription service Audible which unlocks a catalog of audiobooks and includes monthly audiobook purchases.

Legally, Apple Books got the competitive steam knocked out of it years ago when the court system ruled against the company’s business practices around ebooks.

To that end, ebooks generally lack the kind of margins Apple benefits from with App Store revenue and even Apple News. The ebook pie just isn’t big enough to satisfy Apple’s appetite for Services revenue after the author and publisher are paid.

9to5Mac’s Take

Mark Gurman broke the news a day after Apple announced their iPhone 16 event and CFO Luca Maestri announced his upcoming retirement. Wall Street, however, tends to view layoffs favorably as it shows investors that companies are willing to cut costs to maximize profit.

And while it’s never pleasant to hear about groups of people losing their jobs, having Apple at the top of a résumé is a positive when finding your next role.

Mark Gurman goes on to highlight that tonight’s news is the fourth known round of layoffs at Apple in 2024. Apple previously shut down its autonomous electric vehicle project, pulled back on its microLED R&D, and cut 121 AI jobs as part of a reorganization.

Still, the pattern of Apple cutting jobs based on company needs and not slashing tens of thousands of roles just to satisfy Wall Street remains.