Apple refutes Beats layoff rumors, says every employee offered a job

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2014
Countering an earlier rumor that Apple would cull some 200 employees from Beats' roster, a report on Friday cites an Apple spokesperson and inside sources as saying the company is instead doing the opposite by extending job offers to keep everyone on board.



Citing sources familiar with the situation, Billboard reports Apple has extended job offers to all incoming Beats employees, refuting a rumor earlier this week that said some 200 people -- 40 percent of Beats' global workforce -- would be laid off as part of the assimilation.

"Every single person is going through Apple orientation, they're signing up for healthcare," one person said.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr issued a statement yesterday saying much the same.

"We're excited to have the Beats team join Apple, and we have extended job offers to every Beats employee," Neumayr said. "Because of some overlap in our operations, some offers are for a limited period and we'll work hard during this time to find as many of these Beats employees as we can another permanent job within Apple."

While no one was immediately axed, aside from "about five" performance-based firings, the publication says a "large number" of incoming Beats workers have been warned of possible termination that could take place in the next three months to a year. According to reports, those with "overlapping" roles are mainly in human resources, finance and legal departments.

Apple on Friday officially finalized a $3 billion deal to acquire Beats Electronics and Beats Music. A subsequent report claimed Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers will serve as the new head of iTunes Radio, to join Beats cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre in Cupertino.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Whatever. Hey, it stinks to be laid off, but get serious... Does anyone really think Apple needs any of these employees?

  • Reply 2 of 30
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Whatever. Hey, it stinks to be laid off, but get serious... Does anyone really think Apple needs any of these employees?
    I'm curious to know the makeup of Beats employees. Is it mostly people working on their music app do they have a bunch of engineers that worked on the hardware side? The hardware design was contracted out. I would think most Beats employees would be redundant.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    bobschlobbobschlob Posts: 1,074member
    What's interesting is; I believe this is the first time I've heard the word "rumor" associated with this story in any way.
    Just goes to show...
  • Reply 4 of 30
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Whatever. Hey, it stinks to be laid off, but get serious... Does anyone really think Apple needs any of these employees?

    Does Apple need every single one of those people in the positions they are in now? Of course not, but I think a company in Apple's position, if they want to do the ethical thing, will offer positions to these 200 people from their acquisition. Imagine if Apple were to buy companies just to gut them and give everyone a pink slip. It would make look bad and it would kill a lot of loyal customers along the way. I think this action shows a social responsibly and if you create ill will it can slowly build and destroy you. These 200 people may have to accept positions at a lower wage, likely in a new position, and may have to relocate. That's the admirable thing to do and you get 200 employees that you have a history with already by way of Beats' HR. I'm glad Apple is doing this and I was shocked on the previous thread with the rumour of the cuts under Cook.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,040member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BobSchlob View Post



    What's interesting is; I believe this is the first time I've heard the word "rumor" associated with this story in any way.

    Just goes to show...

    Everything here is a basically a rumor unless it comes from an Apple press release or SEC filing.

     

    Not an interesting detail at all.

  • Reply 6 of 30
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Good thing! people were worried the other day when the layoffs were reported on rumorinsider.com
  • Reply 7 of 30
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

     

    Whatever. Hey, it stinks to be laid off, but get serious... Does anyone really think Apple needs any of these employees?


     

    The CEO of Beats Music is good enough to be put in charge of iTunes Radio.  Clearly, Apple thinks there is talent at Beats or they wouldn't have bought them in the first place.

  • Reply 8 of 30
    bobschlob wrote: »
    What's interesting is; I believe this is the first time I've heard the word "rumor" associated with this story in any way.
    Just goes to show...

    You are right! I do not recall any article saying this was a rumor.
  • Reply 9 of 30
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member

  • Reply 10 of 30
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    john.b wrote: »
    The CEO of Beats Music is good enough to be put in charge of iTunes Radio.  Clearly, Apple thinks there is talent at Beats or they wouldn't have bought them in the first place.

    To be honest, none of us knows for certain what any of the behind the scenes activity is on this arrangement.
  • Reply 11 of 30
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    ``According to reports, those with "overlapping" roles are mainly in human resources, finance and legal departments.''

    I wonder where I've read this before?
  • Reply 13 of 30
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    They found around 200 people were redundant in their Beats position and removed them from that position. But offered them other jobs. That's more than many companies do. Especially for what are likely lower level positions.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    singularitysingularity Posts: 1,328member
    charlituna wrote: »
    They found around 200 people were redundant in their Beats position and removed them from that position. But offered them other jobs. That's more than many companies do. Especially for what are likely lower level positions.
    I don't know how it works in the US but in the Uk if there are other positions available that they are qualified to do they are obliged to give them the role
  • Reply 15 of 30
    They got give a short term temporary contract with a termination date.

    Luckily the report of it gives them more hope of finding alternative employment, maybe even with Apple.
    There is no refute.

    Its is exactly as reported in the NY TImes.
    http://nypost.com/2014/07/30/apple-pares-200-jobs-from-beats/
    "“Because of some overlap in our operations, some offers are for a limited period and we’ll work hard during this time to find as many of these Beats employees as we can another permanent job within Apple.”"
  • Reply 16 of 30
    Well done, Apple; it must have been quite a feat to keep those Beats employees.
  • Reply 17 of 30
    [B]Meanwhile in China[/B]: A lot of the 18,000 Microsoft layoffs were Nokia employees who manufactured handsets in China. Those employees are protesting Microsoft's move...things are getting ugly and Microsoft is being investigated by the big wigs... Pop corn vendors are raking in the sales.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

     

    Whatever. Hey, it stinks to be laid off, but get serious... Does anyone really think Apple needs any of these employees?




    Does anyone really think Apple needs anything else this company has?  The employees are probably the best part of the deal - well, except for the audio engineers, they need to be fired.

  • Reply 19 of 30
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Whatever. Hey, it stinks to be laid off, but get serious... Does anyone really think Apple needs any of these employees?

    Are you actually saying there isn't one person among the Beats group that isn't worth continued employment from Apple? What kind of magic pedastool do you put Apple employees on. Beats must have some tallented software developers working for them or Apple would have just wrote their own streaming software instead of buying them out for 3 billion dollars, 3 billion dollars Spammy! Does anyone think Apple needs these employees, uhm yes, I would have thought that was more then apparent.
  • Reply 20 of 30
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Well done, Apple; it must have been quite a feat to keep those Beats employees.

    Indeed, it would have been easier to have just got rid of them. However we really don't know what is happening behind closed doors, they could have been given tempory positions during the transition then quietly let go over time instead of doing it in one big swoop to prevent bad publicity.
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