All of these "company X has avoided layoffs" articles are pretty foolish, are all the big layoffs done? Are we even sure there won't be second rounds by summer?
Apple could layoff 4% in a week and these same analysts will try to explain why there was no other way
Have you ever worked at a high profile company that laid off people? I have. Everything is good and the narrative is "We aren't like other companies" until it actually happens.
Its suboptimal to explicitly telegraph layoffs from an employee morale perspective. As leadership, its better to ask for forgiveness after the layoff than to ask for permission to lay off.
They may actually get through this without laying off, but its certainly not guaranteed just because the CEO says "no layoffs."
This ignores the headline of the article, which is "it didn't overhire". Thus, not only is Cook downplaying the possibility of layoffs, but Apple clearly doesn't need to do them.
Apple could layoff 4% in a week and these same analysts will try to explain why there was no other way