In order to settle a lawsuit made by the UK, Apple has to pay $4.9 billion.
The lawsuit said that CEO Tim Cook lied to investors about the company’s income forecast, which showed that iPhone sales from China were not as strong as expected. Because Apple’s acts had an effect on the Norfolk County Council’s fund, the council organized and brought the lawsuit.
“We’re proud of this recovery for investors,” a Norfolk Pension Fund spokesman said. “We are also aware that we are in charge of pensions that thousands of families and individuals depend on.” When and where it’s necessary, we will take strong action to get back losses when fraud hurts the investments of our members.
According to the deal, Apple lied about how well its iPhones were doing in China in 2018, which is their biggest market. Investors were more likely to jump on a deal after Tim Cook reportedly said that the iPhones were selling well in China. But when they showed their income reports, Apple was billions of dollars short of what they had planned.
Apple’s stock price dropped after sales dropped in China, which caused a drop in income. Apple finally said that Cook did not trick investors by giving them fake hope about the Chinese iPhone market. The case went on for four years, but Apple finally decided to just pay the settlement amount to avoid “an overly burdensome, expensive, and distracting hassle.”
At first, Apple tried to get the case thrown out, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said no. The settlement fund will now be approved at the end of April. Apple stockholders who owned a piece of the company at that time will be able to get a piece of the payment. People say the deal amount isn’t even close to how much Apple made in 2018.
