Apple faces ‘biggest personnel shake-up in decades’ as another top exec eyes exit

Macworld

Much talk in Silicon Valley lately has focused on the timing of Apple boss Tim Cook’s retirement. At the age of 65, and having publicly discussed his departure as far back as 2021, he isn’t going to be presenting keynote videos forever. But while the CEO insists he isn’t leaving just yet, it’s striking how many other senior Apple executives are.

In his latest report on the comings and goings inside Apple Park, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman discusses what he describes as the company’s “biggest personnel shake-up in decades,” rattling off an astonishing list of 18 big-name departures that have either happened this year or are expected to happen soon. Apple’s AI team in particular has been decimated, including the retirement (and possible de facto firing) of its chief. But the design and engineering sections of the company have suffered similarly alarming brain drains.

It’s hardly surprising that the AI department is facing turmoil, given its struggles to catch up with Apple’s rivals. John Giannandrea, the company’s Senior VP of Machine Learning and AI, was replaced as head of Siri back in March following a series of failures and humiliations related to the beleaguered voice assistant. At the start of December, he announced plans to retire, although he will be kept on in an advisory capacity until the spring.

Underperforming teams always experience turnover. But design and engineering have traditionally been Apple’s strengths: under Sir Jonathan Ive, the in-house design shop became legendary in the industry. Then Ive left (officially in 2022 but effectively in 2019) and much of his team followed him through the exit door. Some in the same direction, choosing to join his new company.

A similar fate now appears to be facing other departments at Apple Park. The latest exec rumored to leave is Johny Srouji, Apple’s Senior VP of Hardware Technologies, the driving force behind Apple’s in-house chips, and a sufficiently big name that he appears in the top section of Apple’s leadership page. Srouji “recently told Cook that he is seriously considering leaving in the near future,” Gurman reports, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. And other important hardware employees have left, with the J595 device team “bleeding talent,” Gurman says.

In a follow-up post on Monday morning, Gurman reported that Srouji addressed his division to assure them, “I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.” Still, Gurman is very well-connected inside Apple, so it’s likely Apple either made him a substantial offer to stay or “anytime soon” is sufficiently vague.

Turnover isn’t always negative, and Apple has the funds to cherrypick talent to replace those who leave. But it’s hard to shake the feeling that Cupertino is facing a lot more departures than usual, and tempting to wonder why they’re all leaving. What do they know that we don’t?