Apple Euro staff on shaky ground

Another 1,500 staff will be jettisoned by Apple Computer in the next 12 months as the company battles to bounce back from a 1996 second quarter loss of $740 million, threatening European staff who thought their jobs were safe.

Last year PC Dealer predicted Apple would shed between 2,000 and 3,000 staff (PC Dealer, 13 December 1995). Apple chairman and CEO Gil Amelio announced the company would cut 1,300 staff in January. The announcement means that Apple will lose a total of 2,800 staff between the fourth quarter of 1995 and the second quarter of 1997.

For the three months to March 29, Apple's sales fell to $2.2 billion from $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 1995. The loss includes a $388 million charge for inventory write-downs and a $130 million restructuring charge, compared with a $73 million profit for the same quarter last year.

Amelio said Apple will also outsource some operations and liquidate assets to raise money. 'We will focus the energies of the company on migrating to an Internet-based computing architecture, while retaining the characteristic ease of use for which the company is so well known,' he said.

Apple head of research, David Nagel has left the company to become president of AT&T Labs, a company which was formed this month by the communications giant. Nagel has left Apple after an eight-year stint.