ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we analyze the case of Apple Inc. Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to produce personal computers, the company went through various phases in its management history. In our book, we highlight the period immediately after Steve Jobs’ death, and how this event changed the conception of control of the company, moving toward the mass distribution of dividends to shareholders and stock repurchases. Servitization goes hand in hand with the financialization process, whereby the productive part of the business gives importance to the service and financial areas. Apple has a majority shareholding structure made up of huge institutional investors, and half a percent of them dominate more than half of the institutional stocks, indicating a huge concentration of ownership and therefore a concentration of decision-making power. In terms of work, Apple completely outsources its production to companies located in China, which pay very low wages and offer workers precarious and inhumane conditions of work and livelihood, widely denounced by watchdogs and published by the press. Finally, Apple is a company that fulfills all the financialization requirements and indicators considered by us in this work.
