Apple Trimming 200 Employees From Beats Team to Streamline Overlapping Functions

[Orlandoech]

Never? What if they doubled the sound quality, made them more compact and lowered the price to $199.00?

You're right, I can't say never. As of now, they products sound horrible to my ears and are overpriced to me.

So I can't say never.

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its funny how 2-3 guys can get 2-3 billions while 200 aint even worth a job. Just shows how wrongly balanced our society is. Nobody is worth that more than any other person, even if his excrement is worth its weight in gold. The world is twisted.

Couldn't agree more. Money is evil. Love spelled backwards is very close to evil to, its EVOL (play on words).

 

[brdeveloper]

It's all about productivity, efficiency and profits to the stockholders. Someday productivity and efficiency will be so high that there won't be consumers.

 

[kenroberts83]

Still not a fan of this acquisition. Maybe Apple will get their money's worth out of it.

----------

It's all about productivity, efficiency and profits to the stockholders. Someday productivity and efficiency will be so high that there won't be consumers.

Unlikely.

 

[Breaking Good]

As part of its pending acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music, Apple has begun making offers to Beats employees that will see roughly 200 of Beats' 700 positions phased out over the next few months...

...According to the reports, most of the job cuts will be in human resources, finance, and other areas where there is overlap between Apple and Beats staff.

A ratio of two support staff to every five production/ops staff seems like a pretty high ratio to me.

That means that close to 30% of Beats Music employees weren't doing anything to generate revenue.

 

[zoetmb]

its a set up

Apple acquire beats just for this purpose only... they don't like people so they just "get rid of them" AFTER they were interested in something..

Bose sues Beats over noise cancelling headphones, then Apple acquires them.

Sounds like somethings happening here.

You're either paranoid or have no idea what you're talking about. All of the Beats employees being let go are in back room functions that overlap with existing departments at Apple - mainly finance, accounting and HR. Apple doesn't need them and one of the reasons why companies acquire other companies is because they expect such cost savings based on those overlaps. I suspect Apple only needs the engineers, designers, perhaps the people who supervise manufacturing and those relationships and perhaps some of the marketing people.

When Apple has said that they've offered jobs to all Beats employees, but the 200 for only a limited period, that means in essence, that they've probably offered stay bonuses to those who will stay for the transition. This is also normal business practice, although those employees who temporarily stay but know they're going to be let go generally don't work very hard and spend most of their day looking for another job.

There's also the question of whether Beats will keep their corporate headquarters in Culver City or merge their operations into Apple facilities. It's not always easy for people with families to pick up and move.

However, since Beats was sold for so much money and Beats (pre-sale) had to of known that Apple was going to lay off a number of employees, it would have been "nice" if the owners had given bonuses to those employees who they knew would be laid off (or maybe even to everyone considering the size of the sale).

 

[Armen]

"Apple doesn't need Beats at all. What is Beats good at? NOTHING"

You're looking at it from a consumer's point of view and not a business point of view:

- Beats has a worldwide recognition as a luxury brand headphone company.
- Beats controls more than 50% of the headphone market
- Jimmy Iovine has been in the record industry for over 20 years and has connections if Apple needs to negotiate with record labels.
- Beats audio streaming was done correctly and Apple could use the design behind it to improve iTunes Radio.
- Dr. Dre is a celebrity which brings more of a "cool" factor to Apple.
- Apple may put out better headphones.

All of these factors make Beats a very attractive acquisition for Apple.

 

[coolfactor]

Sure, it is pretty normal, but Apple prides themselves by supposedly "Thinking Different", and so its just disappointing that a company with the profit levels and size of Apple can't find a home for 200 employees they just acquired.

1. Apple states that they will work hard to find permanent positions for all Beats employees, while eliminating the overlapping functions between the two companies.

2. You deduce that Apple can't find a home for 200 employees.

Jumping to a conclusion too quickly, are we?

 

[MacVista]

Apple trimmed Dr Dread and Iovone and and dropped the price to $129.99
Apple then filed an amended tax return where it will receive a refund $3.2 Billion check with $200,000 in interest from the IRS to cover the losses.

 

[bennibeef]

Can someone explain to me why everyone thinks beats acquisition is dumb? Or overpriced?

It feels like its just about everyone is hating this deal because they dont like the headphones and for that its overpriced and to be hated.

Guys, this acquisition makes 10000% more sense than buying Oculus or buying whatsapp or buying instagram. Buying these companies may be nice but they make no real money (some of them none)

Beats made over a billion dollars in revenue last year and sorry but whoever thinks its dumb to buy a company as much you are hating it but it makes good business is dumb.

 

[ProVideo]

its funny how 2-3 guys can get 2-3 billions while 200 aint even worth a job. Just shows how wrongly balanced our society is. Nobody is worth that more than any other person, even if his excrement is worth its weight in gold. The world is twisted.

Especially since one of those guys leaked the info of the deal before it was signed for no other reason than to publicly stroke his own financial ego.

 

[SHNXX]

200. much ado about nothing.
HP and Microsoft probably cut that many people everyday on average for the last year.

 

[kodos]

Whoever said that this is a better purchase than Oculus hit the nail on the head. Not sure why this is such a terrible acquisition when you see what other "Dot-Com" style companies are going for these days. Shades of bubble-like-behavior.

You make a toaster that can connect to the Internet? Here's $50 Billion dollars!

You make headphones that are profitable, widely liked by the general public, positive name recognition, and are starting a new music streaming service that Apple is trying to get into? Cue, Internet - "Worst acquisition, EVER!"

I say this as someone who would not currently buy anything Beats makes - because I don't have that kind of disposable income for headphones in my life's priorities right now, and others make pretty good sets for less $$$.

As for the 200 people - it happens. The only thing worse than losing your job is to spend your days twiddling your thumbs as "Mr. or Ms. Redundancy" in a corner office somewhere flipping through MacRumors and YouTube as you count the clock down to 6pm.

I am pretty sure that these were either low-performing employees, or simply employees that couldn't find another open position at Apple. No one likes losing their jobs, but as a manager I can attest to the fact that no one likes being considered 'worthless' in an organization. I'm sure they'll get a decent severance.

 

[Adokimus]

One day you'll learn how business really works. Until then stay foolish. Er naive.

I'm confused why you don't think I know how businesses really work. I never said that Apple or Beats had to keep any of their employees. I just said to try to be less of a dick and to stop making assumptions about people's work ethics.

 

[applesith]

its funny how 2-3 guys can get 2-3 billions while 200 aint even worth a job. Just shows how wrongly balanced our society is. Nobody is worth that more than any other person, even if his excrement is worth its weight in gold. The world is twisted.

A person themselves isn't worth more. But their productivity can be worth more in many cases.

 

[Adokimus]

We don't know how many, if any, will ultimately lose their jobs. According to Billboard every Beats employee is going through new employee orientation at Apple and is getting healthcare benefits.

According to the sources, they are all losing their jobs. It's a pretty black and white circumstance.

 

[Gasu E.]

A ratio of two support staff to every five production/ops staff seems like a pretty high ratio to me.

That means that close to 30% of Beats Music employees weren't doing anything to generate revenue.

It's more than 30%, since they will be keeping SOME Beats positions in these areas to support integration with Apple functions. But, 30% is not particularly high.

 

[Rogifan]

According to the sources, they are all losing their jobs. It's a pretty black and white circumstance.

According to what sources? Billboard says all Beats employees are going through new employee orientation at Apple. Apple says they are going to try and find jobs for all these employees inside Apple. Neither Apple nor Beats ever confirmed the number of people that might be losing their jobs. It's not black and white if these people are being considered for other positions within Apple.

 

[Gasu E.]

How about you write them all checks or hire them, since you're on this crusade. Most of us make a concerted effort to be valuable in multiple ways to a company, specifically because, as responsible people, we are making sure we DON'T face this situation. Besides, how do YOU know anything about these supposed hardships? Did they visit you and tell you about it at the soup kitchen?

You may be one of those Ayn Rand types who reliably jumps right away to blame the victim. However, I hate to disappoint any judgmental objectivist blood lust, but Apple is not getting rid of 200 people; they are getting rid of 200 positions. The people currently in those positions will be given every opportunity to apply to other open positions at Apple.

 

[ActionableMango]

Beats made over a billion dollars in revenue last year and sorry but whoever thinks its dumb to buy a company as much you are hating it but it makes good business is dumb.

Incomprehensible.

 

[Gary03mw]

I am sure that this is more about Apple just wanting the Beats intellectual property and obviously could care less about the Beats brand or products. I mean Apple has over 90k employees and they want to grow even further. I am sure that there is not a lot of "overlap" from 200 employees that they could not find a home for at Apple Inc.

Sure, it is pretty normal, but Apple prides themselves by supposedly "Thinking Different", and so its just disappointing that a company with the profit levels and size of Apple can't find a home for 200 employees they just acquired.

Hopefully the severance is at least amazing.

You seem to be implying that because Apple makes a lot of money that they should just keep people because they can afford to pay them. You even imply that they are somehow morally wrong to lay them off even though someone else already does the job.

The state of North Carolina could pay a lot of people to build a bridge straight into the Atlantic and obviously a lot of people would have jobs. It's also obvious that wouldn't be a very productive endeavor worthy of anyones time or resources. Layoffs are unfortunate but everyone is better served when we apply our resources in a productive way.

its funny how 2-3 guys can get 2-3 billions while 200 aint even worth a job. Just shows how wrongly balanced our society is. Nobody is worth that more than any other person, even if his excrement is worth its weight in gold. The world is twisted.

Except some people ARE worth much more than others. Some people are absolutely more valuable to humanity and to businesses than others. Contribution is a tough thing to weigh and calculate and it can be even tougher to compensate in the form of pay. That being said, there are certainly extraordinary individuals that deserve every penny they make. This everyone gets a trophy mentality that's so prevalent right now really needs to fade.

Life isn't fair. Some people are born with everything (beauty, intelligence, humor, health, talent, etc) some people are born handicapped. We aren't all equal, we aren't all special, because if everyone is special then nobody is. Even though life isn't fair society tries to balance what we can. We take care of the handicapped kid, we try to help those who have had a run of bad luck, and we even help those that screwed up repeatedly. There are always going to be those that are overcompensated relative to their contribution and vice versa.

Can someone explain to me why everyone thinks beats acquisition is dumb? Or overpriced?

It feels like its just about everyone is hating this deal because they dont like the headphones and for that its overpriced and to be hated.

Guys, this acquisition makes 10000% more sense than buying Oculus or buying whatsapp or buying instagram. Buying these companies may be nice but they make no real money (some of them none)

Beats made over a billion dollars in revenue last year and sorry but whoever thinks its dumb to buy a company as much you are hating it but it makes good business is dumb.

I agree that the acquisition was a good one. Sometimes when things become popular it becomes even more popular to hate them. You see it with bands, clothing, video games, all kinds of fads, you see it with Apple. Some people get Android phones simply because they "hate Apple." Of course they hate Apple for no logical reason. iTunes sales have been declining and it's clear the future is in streaming. Apple really needed to get into that business and Beats already has a good service there. I use it, and in my opinion it's a great service and easily has the best UI in the space. The other products (headphones, speakers) are already sold in Apple stores and just provide additional synergy. They have a sense of style, a strong brand, and they don't conflict with Apples existing product lines at all. Not to mention Apple can really drive sales by including Beats in iOS and putting the other products on a global scale. The last synergy was Jimmy Iovines ability to negotiate within the music industry. Past that, Tim Cook has already said that they expect Beats to be accretive in 2015. Not to mention the streaming business is expected to grow massively over the next few years. This isn't bad at all from a valuation perspective.

 

[ActionableMango]

its funny how 2-3 guys can get 2-3 billions while 200 aint even worth a job. Just shows how wrongly balanced our society is. Nobody is worth that more than any other person, even if his excrement is worth its weight in gold. The world is twisted.

True, nobody is worth that much more than anyone else. But that's not an accurate description of what's happening here.

1. Apple isn't saying these people aren't worth a job. Apple is saying they already have people to do these jobs and don't need more.

2. Apple isn't buying Dr Dre for $2 billion dollars...I'm reasonably certain his salary will be nowhere near $2-3 billion dollars. Apple is purchasing a company, which includes property, technology, branding, rights, licensing agreements, a large customer base, and more. THAT is the thing that is worth $2-$3 billion dollars to Apple.

Comparing an HR rep's position to an entire company with over a billion dollars in annual revenue... well that's bizarre.

 

[thekeyring]

It's true. Everyone wants a job that's nice and tight.

Oh leave me alone, it was a typo

 

[iMcLovin]

Except some people ARE worth much more than others. Some people are absolutely more valuable to humanity and to businesses than others. Contribution is a tough thing to weigh and calculate and it can be even tougher to compensate in the form of pay. That being said, there are certainly extraordinary individuals that deserve every penny they make. This everyone gets a trophy mentality that's so prevalent right now really needs to fade.

I never said that everyone is worth the same. But if you calculate the differences, its rather crazy. That one boss can earn 1000x more than his emplyees f.instance and in addition get billions in bonus. Of course, since that happens, companies think some are worth it. But, imo the differences shouldn't be of that level and it isn't nescessary and noone actually needs THAT kind of cash (and in some countries, like mine, it isn´t like that... its more balanced, luckily) ... Anyway, my comment was only meant as an opinion that the world is a bit too un-balanced and its sad to see Dr.Dre smirking his billion dollar smile while 200 people looses their jobs.

AND, I tend to disagree with you that society tries to balance this. Yes, maybe some, and some individuals tries harder than the rest. But in general its getting worse. In particular in the US, but all around the globe as well. In case you didn´t know in 1980, the 1% richest persons in the US owned 8% of US national income. Today that 1% owns more than 20%. That is not going the right direction and even the richest people sees that...and its a waste. But that´s a different "political" discussion

 

[mw360]

According to the sources, they are all losing their jobs. It's a pretty black and white circumstance.

Eliminating a position is not the same as laying off an employee. Neither does one action necessarily follow the other.

Even if it is what ultimately happens, Apple can not announce now that 200 people will be moved into new jobs. It is for the employees in redundant posts to decide whether they want those new jobs, or whether they would rather leave.

 

[Gary03mw]

I never said that everyone is worth the same. But if you calculate the differences, its rather crazy. That one boss can earn 1000x more than his emplyees f.instance and in addition get billions in bonus. Of course, since that happens, companies think some are worth it. But, imo the differences shouldn't be of that level and it isn't nescessary and noone actually needs THAT kind of cash (and in some countries, like mine, it isn´t like that... its more balanced, luckily) ... Anyway, my comment was only meant as an opinion that the world is a bit too un-balanced and its sad to see Dr.Dre smirking his billion dollar smile while 200 people looses their jobs.

AND, I tend to disagree with you that society tries to balance this. Yes, maybe some, and some individuals tries harder than the rest. But in general its getting worse. In particular in the US, but all around the globe as well. In case you didn´t know in 1980, the 1% richest persons in the US owned 8% of US national income. Today that 1% owns more than 20%. That is not going the right direction and even the richest people sees that...and its a waste. But that´s a different "political" discussion

But soceity does try to balance this. It's why the lowest income levels pay zero in income tax while the highest pay 40%. We already live in a society with a progressive tax system. It's why there are food stamps, tax deductions for those with kids, low income housing, public transit, massive estate taxes, etc. There are a million examples of the US government helping those that need help. That is a progressive system where the people who have help those who do not.

The fact that 1% of people own a great deal of the national income isn't proof that society isn't trying to help those that are down. Correlation doesn't imply causation. I'd argue that of course the money is flowing to the 1%. These people are typically intelligent, educated, have some work ethic, and the capital needed to make more money. The system is set up that way so that it empowers the people who are capable of making change to be able to make that change. If Elon Musk wasn't capable of making billions it's very possible he wouldn't have the freedom to create such disruptive companies like Space X, Tesla, and SolarCity. What I'm saying is that the system is set up in a way that capital generally flows to those most capable of using it. Bill Gates is capable of making change. He is remarkably intelligent and educated. He has a notorious work ethic. His contributions to society are massive. I think it's absolutely great that he has the capital to do what he is doing. And by comparison, if I were in his shoes I never would have founded Microsoft and I certainly wouldn't spend my years in retirement trying to get cure the world of viruses.

I understand that if you're poor it can be very tough to get that initial jump and that it's much easier to make money when you have money (or at least credit). That doesn't change the fact that nearly everything in our system is set up to help people get that start and that government does nearly nothing to help rich people get richer.