Question

Apple been losing money since Steve Jobs died in 2011. Use all of the tools available to provide evidence to support this claim as it pertains to accounting. Make sure the references used are accurate and include real data.

Answer 1

Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. Since then, Apple has been run by Jobs's longtime deputy, Tim Cook. Before he died, Jobs warned Cook against trying to run Apple by asking how Jobs would have handled each decision. "Just do what’s right," Jobs said. Cook appears to have taken that advice to heart.

Jobs ran Apple as if it were a small, founder-owned startup. All significant decisions flowed through Jobs. Often, if Jobs wasn't personally interested in a particular task, Apple just wouldn't do it.

For example, Jobs shut down Apple's charitable giving program in 1997 and never re-started it. Jobs directly supervised Apple's mergers and acquisitions, which meant that Apple didn't acquire very many companies. The companies Apple did acquire were invariably small, and they were absorbed into the Apple hierarchy rather than continuing to operate as separate subsidiaries.

Tim Cook has taken a more conventional approach to managing Apple. Fewer decisions flow through Cook directly, which makes it possible for Apple to handle more tasks in parallel.

One of Cook's first moves after taking over at Apple was to establish a matching-gifts program. He also expanded Apple's mergers and acquisitions department, giving the company the ability to consider several deals simultaneously without involving Cook in the details.

Since taking over at Apple, Tim Cook has tried to capitalize on Apple's status as the only technology company that is also a luxury brand.

In 2014, Apple purchased Beats, a company that makes high-priced headphones as well as a streaming music service. The acquisition cost $3 billion, much more than Jobs had ever spent on an acquisition. And rather than folding Beats into Apple, as Jobs would likely have done, Cook will allow it to continue operating as an independent subsidiary.

Then in 2015 Apple released the Apple Watch line, which ranges from $350 for the entry-level Sport model to $17,000 for the most expensive Apple Watch Edition. Charging $17,000 for a gadget is extremely unusual for consumer electronics business, but it's commonplace in the luxury watch market.