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.
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.
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.
