Norfolk County council takes Apple to court accusing it of concealing weak demand for iPhones
Apple is being sued by an English local authority over claims it misled investors about iPhone sales.
In a class action lawsuit led by Norfolk County Council, the world’s most valuable firm is accused of concealing weak demand for its handsets before it issued a profit warning in January 2019.
Norfolk council runs the £3.8billion Norfolk Pension Fund, which holds an undisclosed amount of shares in Apple.
Apple boss Tim Cook (pictured) is accused of making ‘false and misleading’ statements on a call with analysts, when he said the company was not facing sales pressure in China
The lawsuit alleges Apple boss Tim Cook made ‘false and misleading’ statements on a call with analysts two months previously, when he said the company was not facing sales pressure in China.
Days later media reports claimed Apple was reducing production of the new iPhone XR due to lower than expected demand.
And by January, Cook admitted to investors the firm would miss its profit forecasts by about £6billion.
But Norfolk has argued Cook must have known in November the new iPhone was not selling as strongly as Apple had hoped. Apple said there was no proof it misled investors.