Following a class action lawsuit led by Norfolk County Council over the effect of an alleged cover-up by Apple’s boss about iPhone demand in China, Apple has agreed to pay £385m to settle the lawsuit.
The lawsuit related to comments by Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, to investors back in 2018 where he told them there was “sales pressure” in some countries but not in China, thereby indicating demand for iPhones there was normal. However, two months later (January 2019), Apple cited China-US tensions as a reason for downgrading its quarterly revenue forecast, which resulted in a sharp fall in Apple’s share price. The lawsuit, led by Norfolk County Council (and including a group of Apple investors) therefore alleged that that they had been falsely reassured by Mr Cook’s comments, lost money because of this, and Mr Cook had been covering up the company’s knowledge about lower demand for iPhones in China.
Following Apple’s agreement to settle the lawsuit, a statement by the Norfolk Pension Fund said it was “very proud of this recovery for investors” and that it’s willing to take “decisive action to recover losses when our participants’ investments are harmed by fraud”.