Apple today announced that it will be laying off 2,700 employees and will
take a charge of $155 million this quarter. An additional 1400 contract
employees are also getting the axe today. The company is also throwing
in the towel on technologies that are not key to its success, including
AIX server software and a video conferencing program. Apple will also
stop supporting OpenDoc, the widely touted but little-used component
software architecture. The future of the Newton and Claris divisions is
still undecided.
"The right strategy is not to chase market share," Apple CEO Gil Amelio
said. "The right strategy is to come out with great products." Many people
are calling for Amelio's ouster: since the self-described turnaround king
took over at Apple, the company has lost almost a billion dollars.
"Why would I want to stand aside when we're right at the cusp of turning
this thing around?" Amelio asked. "I think what this company needs is a
period of focus and stability and going forward, that's what I intend to
do."
One interesting note: the layoffs are far lower than many expected. As of
yesterday, most news organizations were reporting that Apple was expected
to layoff 45% of their workforce, or almost 6,000 people. On the other
hand, over 4,000 employees left Apple on their own in the past year