Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman often shares some fascinating facts about the office culture at the company. From how it canceled a potential cash cow to preserve its premium image to Apple spending billions on something that probably won’t improve its devices. But the latest piece of interesting info is a bit different: Apple CEO Tim Cook keeps senior employees around on payroll to keep people’s faith in the company.
How exactly does that work, you may be asking. For this we’re going to have to go back to when Steve Jobs passed away, just six weeks after Cook assumed the role of CEO. Because apparently this practice of keeping around Apple veterans isn’t anything new.
Not long after Jobs’ passing, Bob Mansfield wanted to leave the company. Mansfield was a key figure in Apple’s hardware engineering department, and Cook was concerned his departure might alarm shareholders. So what Cook did instead was convince Mansfield to stick around a while longer for, possibly, very large sums of money. And though Mansfield did stay at Apple, he barely worked after that until taking on the Apple Car project according to Gurman.
At least they’ll never cancel the iPhone…right? | Image credit — PhoneArena
Cook had to employ the same tactic around 2015 for Apple’s highly-praised designer Jony Ive. Ive wanted to leave and instead he was kept around on payroll while being allowed to work only one or two days a week. He did eventually leave in 2019 to start his own firm, but not before Apple had spent years telling the public that Ive was heavily involved at the company.
According to Gurman this tactic was also used for Phil Schiller. This was when Apple came up with the “Apple Fellow” title, something Schiller still works as today while leading the App Store.
What’s more interesting is that the company is still employing this method now, almost 13 years after Jobs passed away. The latest example is Apple CFO Luca Maestri stepping down in 2025. Though Maestri will no longer hold the title of CFO the company is keeping him around regardless, for providing counsel to Tim Cook amidst other duties.
Recommended Stories
Apple isn’t short on money, not by a very long shot. But it’s also one of the biggest, most beloved companies in the world. Is keeping around senior employees on payroll for barely any work really that helpful now?
Because I doubt this massive corporation is going to lose much interest from the public if someone they probably didn’t even know about leaves.
Follow us on social media to catch the latest trending stories, watch exclusive videos, and join the conversation with our vibrant community!
Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.
Recommended Stories
Loading Comments...
COMMENT
All comments need to comply with our
Community Guidelines
Phonearena comments rules
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: