Apple has restructured its corporate development operations, placing the mergers and acquisitions team back under chief financial officer Kevan Parekh. Steve Smith, who has held senior roles at the company for many years, assumes leadership of the unit and will report directly to Parekh, restoring M&A to the finance division after a seven-year absence from that structure.
Adrian Perica, who oversaw corporate development for more than a decade, steps away from that responsibility but retains oversight of iCloud, Fitness+ and News, continuing to report to services chief Eddy Cue. The company did not respond to requests for comment on the reorganisation. Tim Cook's successor as chief executive, John Ternus, took office on 1 September.
Parekh's elevation of M&A within his remit comes five months after he announced a fundamental shift in Apple's financial strategy. During the May earnings call, he disclosed that Apple was abandoning the net cash neutral policy established in 2018, stating that the company would "evaluate cash and debt independently." Market observers interpreted this as signalling greater flexibility for acquisitions. At the time, Apple maintained approximately $54B in net cash.
The corporate development function extends well beyond purchasing companies. It manages strategic partnerships, including the 2024 integration of ChatGPT into Apple's ecosystem and the longstanding arrangement that designates Google as the default search engine. Reports from July indicated that Apple had engaged with investment bankers and chip startups regarding potential acquisitions aimed at addressing server infrastructure challenges for artificial intelligence.
Apple's most significant acquisition to date remains Beats, acquired for $3B in 2014, though the company spent approximately $2B on the Israeli AI firm Q.ai during the current year.
Two additional leadership changes
Carson Oliver has been promoted to vice president of the App Store, formalising a role he was already performing on a day-to-day basis following Phil Schiller's step back from the division and from product-related public appearances.
The App Store position has become predominantly focused on European regulatory matters. The European Commission imposed a €500M fine on Apple regarding anti-steering practices, the General Court rejected the company's July argument that its app stores constitute separate services, and in August Apple replaced the EU Core Technology Fee with a flat 5% commission structure.
Jennifer Bailey, who managed Apple Pay and Wallet operations for an extended period, departs this month. Cue has not yet announced a replacement, and his responsibilities have expanded with each leadership transition. Within the company, Perica and Oliver Schusser, who leads Apple Music, are viewed as the most probable candidates to eventually succeed Cue.
European regulation reshapes Apple's structure
Apple's three most heavily regulated business areas in Europe—the App Store, payments infrastructure, and the search engine agreement—have undergone significant leadership changes within a six-week window. Two of these positions have new leadership, while the third remains unfilled.
Source: The Next Web
