Apple closes all stores outside Greater China till March 27

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Apple announced on Saturday that it’s closing all its stores outside Greater China till March 27 and asking all employees to work remotely to contain the spread of coronavirus.

CEO Tim Cook announced in a letter posted on the Apple website that the “most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance” and this has led to the company deciding to temporarily close stores and move corporate employees outside of Greater China to work remotely.

Apple recently shut all its stores across Italy and Spain. The tech giant has 460 locations across the world outside China and about 270 stores in the US.

Cook has also said that all hourly employees who work at these closed stores will continue to receive normal pay and they have also donated $15 million to fight coronavirus and will be matching employee donations two-to-one.

Apple also has moved their WWDC to an online-only event scheduled for June. The company has extended a monetary donation of $1 million to local San Jise organisations (where WWDC 2020 was supposed to be held) to make up for revenue losses.

Cook, however, has not mentioned how long this ‘remote work’ mandate is going to last but has said that “those whose work requires them to be on site should follow guidance to maximise interpersonal space”. Employees at several Apple offices globally have been encouraged to work remotely about a week ago.

Cook closed his letter by thanking “the heroic first responders, doctors, nurses, researchers, public health experts and public servants” working to fight the pandemic.

Apple was one of the first companies to disclose the virus’s impact on its financials. They stated last month that they will “no longer meet its March quarter guidance range of $63 billion to $67 billion. It didn’t say how its two week closure of most stores would further impact revenue”.

According to reports, Apple stock has declined 5.3% this year, compared with the Nasdaq Composite Index’s 12% slump.