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Apple CEO Tim Cook is charged! It was not someone else who accused him, but his own shareholders.
On the evening of November 6, Reuters reported that Apple shareholders collectively filed a complaint with Cook alleging that shareholders believed Cook had concealed declining demand for the iPhone in the Chinese market, causing investors to lose thousands. of millions of dollars.
Seeing this news, all the villagers who were watching the excitement woke up.
On the one hand, I think it is fake news, especially when the iPhone 12 has just been launched, the big e-commerce companies have separated and the official Apple website has been paralyzed. How is it possible that sales are not good? On the other hand, netizens also think that this may be a good thing.
Why sue Cook?
Things must start in 2018.
On November 1, 2018, two months after Apple announced the three new iPhone XR, XS and XS Max models, Apple’s investor conference call revealed iPhone shipments and other information, causing investors to trust buy more Apple stock. .
When Cook responded to an analyst’s question, he said he was optimistic about sales of the new iPhone. Speaking of the performance of emerging markets, he mentioned that the iPhone is under pressure in the Brazilian and Indian markets, but said “I will not include China.”
On the same occasion, CFO Luca Maestri announced that he would no longer announce iPhone sales in the quarterly earnings report. A few days later, Apple began requiring suppliers to control production. That month, Apple’s stock price fell 18.12% and, the following month, it continued to fall 11.67%.
At the beginning of August 2018, Apple just passed the market value of US $ 1 trillion, becoming the first public company in the history of the US stock market to have a market value of US $ 1 trillion. . Shareholders believe that Apple clearly faces sales pressure in emerging markets, but Cook believes that sales in the Chinese market will not be affected.
In January 2019, Cook unexpectedly claimed that due to the influence of the Chinese market, he would lower his quarterly revenue forecast by US $ 9 billion. The next day, after the downward adjustment, Apple’s stock price plunged 10%, evaporating $ 74 billion in market value, and it also cost investors billions of dollars.
United States District Judge Yvonne González Rogers ruled that the plaintiff had reason to believe that Cook’s comments were seriously false and misleading.
While Cook may not know that Apple’s Chinese market has started to show “disturbing signs,” it’s hard to believe that he doesn’t know anything.
On November 5, the indictment was approved by the judge.
Although both Apple and Cook claimed that there is no evidence that they have deliberately misled the plaintiffs, it is an indisputable fact that Apple has gradually weakened in the Chinese market in recent years.
Is Apple’s Chinese market no longer in fashion?
According to IDC, a market research organization, from 2015 to 2019, the annual shipments of the iPhone in the Chinese market were 58.4 million, 44.9 million, 41.1 million, 36.3 million and 32.8 million, with a market share of 13.4%, 9.6%, 9.3%, both 9.2% and 8.9% have decreased year after year.
In the global smartphone market, Apple is also blocked by Chinese manufacturers.
According to the latest IDC report, in the third quarter of 2020, 41.6 million iPhones were shipped globally, a decrease of 10.6% compared to the same period. The 11.8% market share was overtaken by Xiaomi for the first time and fell to fourth place.
In the early morning hours of October 30, Apple released its earnings report for the fourth quarter to September 30, 2020.
The financial report shows that Apple’s fourth-quarter revenue was $ 64.698 billion, an increase of just 1% from $ 64.04 million in the same period last year; net profit was US $ 12,673 million, a decrease of 8% from US $ 13,686 million in the same period last year.
Overall, Apple’s net hardware product revenue was $ 50.149 billion, down from $ 51.529 billion for the same period last year. Revenues from iPad, Mac, and other hardware devices have increased, especially Macs, whose revenues increased nearly 30% compared to the same period.
Revenue from the iPhone alone fell significantly, reaching nearly US $ 7 billion.
IDC said the decline was within expectations, mainly due to the delay in the launch of the new iPhone 12 series; however, the iPhone 11 series performed exceptionally well, followed by the second-generation iPhone SE.
Interpretation of Apple’s financial report, Cook said that no new iPhone products were launched in the last two weeks of September, resulting in unsatisfactory information.However, since the iPhone 12 series was published in October, the development of 5G of China is very fast, so Apple is confident of its growth in China this quarter.
Cook also said that China’s 5G development is very fast, so the timing for the iPhone 12 series to enter the Chinese market is fair, not only that, 5G is widespread around the world and its coverage is expanding, and things will get better and better.
What do readers think?
(This article is reprinted with permission from Leifeng.com; source of first image: shutterstock)
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