Apple to lay off more than 600, weeks after canceling electric-vehicle project

By Mike Murphy

Apple Inc. is laying off more than 600 workers in Silicon Valley, weeks after pulling the plug on its secretive, self-driving EV.

Those are the first significant job cuts for Apple (AAPL) since the pandemic. According to a filing with the state of California, 614 employees were informed on March 28 that they'll lose their jobs, effective May 27. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the layoffs.

In February, Apple reportedly abandoned its years-long plans to build an autonomous electric vehicle. At the time, Bloomberg News reported that some employees on the project would be shifted to other departments, while others would likely be laid off.

While the state filing did not specify the car project, the layoffs will affect workers at eight satellite offices in Santa Clara, Calif., though none at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last May, amid a swath of layoffs by large tech companies, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said job cuts would be a "last resort" at Apple. Cook did say at the time that Apple was cutting costs and slowing its hiring.

Apple hired at a slower pace than many of its tech peers during the pandemic, largely sparing the company from layoffs as economic conditions changed in the past couple of years.

Apple snapped a four-quarter streak of revenue declines in its December-ending quarter, but warned it could see another drop in the March-ending quarter.

On Wednesday, Amazon (AMZN) slashed hundreds of jobs in its AWS cloud-computing business.

Apple shares have slid 12% year to date, and are up just 2.5% over the past year, compared to the S&P 500's SPX 8% gain in 2024 and 25% rise over the past 12 months.

-Mike Murphy

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04-04-24 2256ET

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