Apple lays off 100 contractors in recruiting: report

Oracle, Meta Platforms, Twitter, Microsoft and Tesla have also laid off employees or paused hiring

Apple has reportedly laid off approximately 100 contracted recruiters as the tech giant looks to rein in its spending and slow its hiring.  

Sources told Bloomberg — the first news organization to report the story — that the terminated contractors were told the layoffs were being made due to the iPhone maker's "current business needs" and that they'd receive pay and medical benefits for two weeks. 

The recruiter layoffs reportedly occurred across multiple regions, including Apple’s offices in Texas and Singapore. Apple is retaining recruiters who are full-time employees. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AAPL APPLE INC. 171.48 -1.83 -1.06%

Apple did not respond immediately to a request for comment from FOX Business.

JUDGE APPROVES $30.5M APPLE SETTLEMENT OVER RETAIL EMPLOYEE BAG CHECKS

In July, reports surfaced that Apple would slow down its hiring and spending plans in 2023 ahead of a possible economic downturn. Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the reports during the company's fiscal third quarter earnings call. 

"We believe in investing through the downturn," Cook said. "And so we'll continue to hire people and invest in areas, but we are being more deliberate in doing so in recognition of the realities of the environment."

The maker of consumer electronics and software and provider of online services expects its year-over-year growth to accelerate during the fiscal fourth quarter compared to the fiscal third quarter ended June despite approximately 600 basis points of negative year-over-year impact from foreign exchange. A basis point equals 1/100 of a percent.

APPLE BEATS ON EARNINGS, SETS NEW REVENUE RECORD

Though it did not provide full revenue guidance, Apple expects services revenue to continue to grow but decelerate from the June quarter due to macroeconomic factors and foreign exchange. On the product side, it expects supply constraints to ease from the quarter ended June. 

Apple previously let go of hundreds of Irish contract workers in 2019. Those layoffs followed privacy concerns stemming from a now-canceled practice where contractors reportedly listened to users' Siri recordings. Some contractors working on the development of Apple Park were also dropped in 2015. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
ORCL ORACLE CORP. 125.56 +0.28 +0.22%
META META PLATFORMS INC. 485.58 -8.28 -1.68%
TWTR n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 420.72 -0.71 -0.17%
TSLA TESLA INC. 175.79 -4.04 -2.25%

Other tech giants that have recently laid off employees or paused hiring include Oracle, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Twitter, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's Tesla.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS