A recent report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that Apple and Goldman Sachs are ending the partnership they made in 2019 to introduce the Apple Card. Although the news didn’t come as a surprise, it’s still unclear what will happen to the Apple Card – but a job opening on Apple’s website suggests that the company may be working with a Brazilian fintech to sort it out.
A whopping one-fifth of Apple’s Services revenue comes directly from Google, estimates Goldman Sachs, as analysts from the bank are calling for Apple to launch its own Amazon Prime like media service bundle.
The bank warns against Apple’s reliance on its rival for its services revenue as its venture into subscription Services is Apple latest long-term business strategy.
Apple’s first ever Japanese bond sale will raise more than had been previously estimated. An SEC filing reveals that the sale will raise ¥250B ($2B), more than the ¥200 billion ($1.6B) which had been reported earlier.
Apple is selling the bonds in Japanese yen due to the extremely low interest rates in the country, with Apple offering a rate of just 0.35%, paid twice a year in June and December. Goldman Sachs, one of the two underwriters of the bond issue, said that the market would welcome the offering.
“It’s Apple’s first time issuing in yen. Their ratings, credit fundamentals and familiarity within the Japanese market are very high,” said a Goldman Sachs banker. “The outcome proves how much the market welcomed seeing this issuer come up.”
Although Apple has huge cash reserves, the majority of this is held overseas and cannot be repatriated back to the U.S. without large tax liabilities. It is cheaper for the company to borrow money to fund its stock buyback program and to fund dividend payments. Apple announced in April that it will spend $200B by the end of March 2017 on a mix of share repurchases and dividend payments.
As mentioned earlier today, Tim Cook is speaking momentarily at the 2015 Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference where his remarks will be live streamed, and below we’ll update with the latest from the Apple CEO. In previous years, Cook has used the platform to share insight about product performance including the Apple TV and tease future roadmaps as the CEO often does. Today’s appearance follows Apple’s record quarter for any company with more than $74 billion reported in revenue and over 74 million iPhones sold. Apple is also positioned to release the Apple Watch in April, Cook recently mentioned, so today’s remarks should be interesting. Expand Expanding Close
Apple is gearing up to issue another bond offering this week, with a conference call with investors reportedly scheduled today, according to reports this morning from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Apple hasn’t announced that it is holding an investor call today as of yet, but the announcement will likely be posted to Apple’s Investor Relations website if it is indeed happening. According to the WSJ, this bond offering will be the first from Apple to involve the euro currency:
Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer has joined the Board of Directors of investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. Oppenheimer is an independent director for the company, and this has no effect on his current leadership position at Apple (update he just retired, oh well).
“Peter’s 25 years of broad experience across important industries will add a valuable perspective to our Board of Directors,” said Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO. “We appreciate his willingness to serve as a director and look forward to benefitting from his judgment and counsel.”
As an experienced CFO, Oppenheimer’s financial aptitude will likely be beneficial for the investment behemoth. “Oppenheimer will be a member of each of the firm’s Audit, Risk, Compensation and Corporate Governance, Nominating and Public Responsibilities committees,” according to Goldman Sachs…
Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo told attendees at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in New York today that unlimited data plans are no longer relevant and the carrier’s Share Everything plan is doing well.
“We are surprised on shared from many different aspects,” said Shammo, as first reported by CNET. “…More people are going to shared than we actually anticipated. And the thing that really surprised us is we have a lot of people coming off unlimited to go to shared.”
Verizon’s Share Everything plan launched in June and allows users to, well, share data with up to 10 devices through a single account. The carrier stopped offering unlimited data to new customers last year, due to growing smartphone usage clogging the carrier’s pipelines; and with the standard now at 4G LTE, Verizon is likely trying to capitalize on every bit of data funneled through its network.
Unlimited data customers are flocking to Share Everything, Shammo suggested, because many of them realize they don’t consume much data. He also noted customers have added more devices than expected.
“Unlimited is just a word, it doesn’t really mean anything,” Shammo contended. “So that whole unlimited thing I think is going by the wayside and they see the benefit of going to the shared. ”
Rajat Gupta is on the right (image via the Wall Street Journal).
A federal jury just convicted Rajat Kumar Gupta, an ex-Goldman Sachs director, of insider trading in a case that involves swapped information about Apple and other technology firms.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gupta was convicted on three counts of securities fraud, one count of conspiracy, and acquitted of two counts of securities fraud. The executive dabbled in a bit of insider trading when he discussed non-public boardroom information about his company and Procter & Gamble to a prominent hedge fund manager.
Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group, which is a New York-based hedge fund management firm, earned millions off Gupta’s tips. He is now serving an 11-year prison sentence on charges stemming from the insider trading case. Lawyers for Gupta recently submitted evidence that pinpointed another Goldman Sachs executive as sharing inside information with Rajaratnam.
As 9to5Mac previously detailed, David Loeb, who is head of Asia equity sales for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in New York, was supposedly caught on a U.S. wiretap providing confidential information about Apple Inc., Intel Corp., and Hewlett-Packard Co., to Rajaratnam.
According to SFGate, the Manhattan jury contemplated the charges against Gupta, but did not listen the wiretap evidence during his trial. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that the wiretaps were inadmissible hearsay. An attorney for Gupta told the judge earlier this week that the evidence about Loeb was critical to the defense and proved “that another person committed an act of which the defendant stands accused.”
The defense rested its case and the jury concluded this morning. Gupta faces up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years for each fraud charge. His sentencing is set for Oct. 18.
A Goldman Sachs executive apparently dabbled in a bit of insider trading when he allegedly discussed non-public information about Apple Inc., to a prominent hedge fund manager during a federal wiretap investigation.
David Loeb, who is head of Asia equity sales for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in New York, was supposedly caught on a U.S. wiretap providing inside information on Apple Inc., Intel Corp., and Hewlett-Packard Co., to Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm. Rajaratnam is now serving an 11-year prison sentence for insider trading.
Today’s wiretap tidbit emerged after Gary Naftalis, a lawyer for Rajat Kumar Gupta, told a judge about the tapes’ existence. Gupta is an ex-Goldman Sachs director arrested in late 2011 by the FBI on insider trading charges derived from the Raj Rajaratnam Galleon Group case, and he is currently embroiled in an ongoing criminal trial. Gupta adamantly denies any misconduct.
‘He’s on a tape giving out information’ about those companies, Mr. Naftalis told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff outside the presence of the jury.
Mr. Naftalis told the judge that prosecutors were withholding exculpatory evidence he said could help his client.
[…] Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky told Judge Rakoff that Mr. Loeb “provided Intel, Apple and Hewlett Packard information to Mr. Rajaratnam.” It’s the first time the government has publicly named Mr. Loeb and confirmed that the U.S. has evidence that he gave information about Apple, Intel and Hewlett-Packard to Mr. Rajaratnam.
“There’s none that Mr. Loeb had access to material, nonpublic information about Goldman’s earnings,” Mr. Brodsky said.
Yesterday we brought you some of the highlights from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and now Apple made the conference’s audio available on its website. While Apple usually uses the conference to discuss numbers and trends, Cook gave us some hints at what’s next for Apple TV, and he also discussed worker safety following media attention over its supply chain abroad. Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s Chief Executive Office Tim Cook is speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference where he was just asked about working conditions within the company’s supply chain. While Apple’s presentations at past Goldman Sachs conferences, where Cook was often involved as Chief Operating Officer, were typically limited to numbers and trends, Cook was asked today about supply chain conditions in China:
“The first thing I would want everyone to know… Apple takes working conditions very, very seriously….we care about every worker… i spent a lot of time in factories personally… we are understand working conditions at a very granular level. I realize that… the supply chain is complex… but my commitment is very, very simple. We believe that every worker has the right to a fair and safe work environment, free of discrimination, where they can earn competitive wages, and voice their concerns freely… We believe that education is the great equalizer”
Cook talked about how aggressively Apple has sought to fix the issues. In January, the company polled over half a million employees weekly and reported over 84 percent compliance. Following yesterday’s announcement that the Fair Labor Association has begun audits of the company’s supply chain starting with Foxconn City in Shenzhen, Cook noted Apple will begin an unprecedented move to report its findings monthly. As an example of how detail oriented the company’s review processes are, Cook noted if there were “no fire extinguisher in kitchen,” the supplier would not pass.
Cook also noted that Apple partnered with local schools to provide classes to more than 60,000 employees, many going on to earn associates degrees, with a campus population larger than Arizona State.
