Apple Withheld $139 Million Payment from GT Advanced Ahead of Bankruptcy Filing

[captain kaos]

Apple has billions, and to buy into this company, force them to upgrade equipment and then hold off on paying them is a joke.

 

[Nevaborn]

Not paying this is the smartest move Apple has made in a long long time. There will have been many internal warnings that GT Advanced were in trouble, emails, memos, progress reports, financial meetings etc

The notion Apple is surprised and may of caused this bankruptcy by holding a payment feels like fantasy to try and escalate a pretty dull story. The CEO sold off his stock before the iPhone 6 reveal because he knew they missed the deadline and had burned through their invested capital so he was bricking it.

Also it is not just a case of the guy phoning Tim and say hey bud can we hold off a few more weeks ... By this point other part makers and deliers are confirmed, production plants are ready with machines and staff hired, transport and shipping is booked, stores get more staff, training and promo material to be delivered to them and media outlets. A product release is a very time sesitive and costly thing and GTA dropped the ball.

Apple can still come out on top of this though as they could just buy the company when it is officially declared bankrupt and also the 6/Plus and 6S/Plus will likely have same front dimensions so those stockpiled screens that missed by a few weeks may still get used and since the launch I would imagine GT has been creating screens still hence the huge operational spending.

 

[GoodWatch]

I can see Samesung paying GT the last $139 million just to spite Apple. Apple has already invested $439 million of the total 578 million! Does Samesung use sapphire?

Wow, 8 posts and Samsung is introduced! Not the record but close. It used to be Microsoft, now it's Samsung.

 

[kdarling]

Not paying this is the smartest move Apple has made in a long long time. There will have been many internal warnings that GT Advanced were in trouble, emails, memos, progress reports, financial meetings etc

The notion Apple is surprised and may of caused this bankruptcy by holding a payment feels like fantasy to try and escalate a pretty dull story.

The notion that Apple was surprised, came from Apple itself.

In the iPhone maker's first public response, it said it was working with Arizona officials on its next moves.

"We are focused on preserving jobs in Arizona following GT's surprising decision and we will continue to work with state and local officials as we consider our next steps," spokesman Chris Gaither said.

-Reuters

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Edit: Wow. The same Chris Gaither used to be a main spokesman for Google until last year! Now he's the Director of Corporate Public Relations for Apple. This guy sure gets around.

 

[D-Dave]

Wow. The same Chris Gaither used to be a main spokesman for Google until last year! Now he's the Director of Corporate Public Relations for Apple. This guy sure gets around.

Maybe he has a realy husky voice?

How do you know about truffle pigs?

Well, I let him visit one of my cloning facilitys (which ironicaly were funded by a HUGE loan from Apple and are very close to the GT Factory so the freshly cloned ones enter life with a sniff of the good stuff)

Seems a little dirty to me...

Apple is under no obligation to purchase what GT produces in the factory, yet they are limited to whom they can sell to??

Not dirty, just stupid on behalf of GT: signing a contract that basicaly states you can only sell your product to one partner, but this partner has no obligation to buy your product...well, the IQ of the manager responsible must be well below room temperature...greed eats brain...