Apple Investigated Possible Business Misconduct In Its Supply Chain

By Yoko Kubota and Tripp Mickle

Apple Inc. conducted an investigation in May into possible business misconduct within its supply chain, including possible kickbacks and bribes to employees from suppliers, rattling some of the tech giant's suppliers and employees as they geared up to produce the company's newest devices.

In response to The Wall Street Journal's questions, an Apple spokesman said the company found no evidence of bribery or kickbacks, but declined to disclose what prompted the investigation or its findings.

Apple inquired with at least one supplier about possible kickbacks to Apple employees, according to people familiar with the probe.

"We have over 2,300 operations employees in China and, while misconduct issues are rare, we take any allegations very seriously and investigate each one thoroughly," an Apple spokesman said in its statement.

--Yang Jie in Beijing contributed to this article.

Write to Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com and Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2018 18:45 ET (23:45 GMT)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024