Apple has hired Shiva Rajaraman, a product leader formerly with Google's YouTube, Spotify and Twitter, to accelerate its failing video content strategy, The Information reported yesterday citing people familiar with the matter. The paywall'd article cites three people briefed on the hiring as saying that Rajaraman will help shape Apple’s video strategy to take on established players like Amazon and Netflix.
Apple announced on Friday that it will be building two additional research and development centers in China, its major market. The new facilities will be built in Shanghai and Suzhou, joining Apple's upcoming R&D centers in Beijing and Shenzhen. All four facilities will open later in 2017. The company has allocated about 3.5 billion yuan, or approximately $507 million, on research institutions overall.
Forensic data analysis expert, iOS security researcher and former jailbreak developer Jonathan Zdziarski has officially joined Apple. Zdziarski announced today he accepted a position with Apple's Security Engineering and Architecture team, but it's unclear when he might be starting work at Apple. Zdziarski, who at times could be critical of Apple's security efforts, says he's joined the iPhone maker because he's so passionate about protecting the security and privacy of others.
After decrying U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw anti-discrimination protections for transgender bathroom use in schools, Apple and 52 other firms like Amazon, Apple, IBM and Microsoft have signed a Supreme Court brief in support of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who's fighting against his school district over which school bathrooms he may use.
The New York Times reported that the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit organization supporting gay rights, plans to file the signed brief on Thursday.
Berkshire Hathaway's position in Apple is now more than twice as large as previously disclosed at $18.2 billion, investment tycoon Warren Buffett told CNBC in an interview on Monday. At the end of last year, Berkshire Hathaway owned 61 million Apple shares, worth $7 billion at the time.
Buffet's annual letter to shareholders, which included a regulatory disclosure of its long positions, has revealed that his conglomerate had purchased about 120 million shares of Apple in 2017.
Apple said yesterday that employees will start boarding its futuristic campus, officially named Apple Park, in April. According to San Francisco Chronicle, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook will move his office to the new 175-acre campus.
The United States President Donald Trump's decision which aims to withdraw anti-discrimination protections for transgender bathroom use in schools was met with strong opposition from Apple. In a statement to Axios, Apple said preventing transgender students from using bathroom facilities designated for the gender to which they identify is hurting human rights initiatives.
Apple announced this morning that its new 175-acre Apple Campus 2 aka iSpaceship has been officially named Apple Park. It will be ready for more than 12,000 employees to begin occupying in April although the move-in process will take over six months with construction of the buildings and parklands continuing through the summer.
Powered by renewable energy, it's one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world, the iPhone maker said. The company is also honoring Steve Jobs by naming a massive auditorium the Steve Jobs Theater.
Situated atop a hill and overlooking meadows and the main building, the 1,000-seat underground auditorium is opening later this year and will host future press and corporate events. The entrance to the auditorium is a 20-foot-tall glass cylinder, 165 feet in diameter, supporting a metallic carbon-fiber roof.
Apple's boss Tim Cook said on a recent earnings call with investors and analysts that his company on average acquired between fifteen to twenty smaller companies per year for the last four years, noting that Apple looks for startups of all sizes. “There's not a size that we wouldn't do based on just the size of it, it's more about the strategic value of it,” he said.
A new report Wednesday from Bloomberg alleges that Apple's reluctance to cooperate with third-party advisers like investment banks, risk aversion and internal acquisition strategy are standing in the way of large takeovers.
Apple is breaking records—the company's stock price has surged to an all-time intraday high, trading as high as $134.88 today and having surpassed the previous all-time intraday high of $134.54 set on April 28, 2015. The current stock price gives the Cupertino company a market capitalization of nearly $710 billion, the largest market valuation for a publicly traded American company.
According to MarketWatch, just yesterday the stock had closed at a record $133.00, passing the previous record set two years earlier.
John Solomon, Apple's Vice President for Enterprise and Government, has stepped down. He led sales teams charged with pushing Apple hardware and software to big companies and government agencies with large technology budgets.
Apple confirmed his departure to Reuters, but refused to comment further. Solomon wouldn't reveal why he left Apple either. It's unclear if losing a key executive for business sales might slow Apple's efforts to push its solutions to large businesses in recent years.
The Apple vs. Spotify fight just became tougher with news that Apple recently hired Spotify's former head of label relations, Steve Savoca, who left the company in August of last year (Spotify's current boss of label relations is Rob Harvey). He was recruited for the identical role at Apple Music.
The Cupertino firm on Thursday confirmed the hiring of Spotify's former executive, saying he'll be focusing on relationships with smaller, independent labels, especially internationally.