Following a meeting between Apple's CEO Tim Cook and Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Varadkar said that Apple is not committed to going forward with a planned $1 billion datacenter:
A planned $1 billion Apple data center is in doubt after Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the U.S. company's Chief Executive Tim Cook would no longer commit to it, adding that Dublin would do whatever necessary to get it built.
Apple announced plans in February 2015 to build the facility in a rural location in the west of Ireland to take advantage of green energy sources nearby, but the project has faced a two-year delay due to planning objections.
In a meeting on Thursday, Cook did not commit to going ahead with it, Varadkar told state broadcaster RTE. "We didn't get a start date, or a definite commitment or anything like that," said Varadkar, who is on a tour of the United States to meet investors, adding he had told Cook that the government would do "anything within our power" to facilitate the resumption of the project.
Also at City A.M.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @08:32PM (11 children)
They outta threaten to kick Apple out - Apple's using Ireland as a tax shelter.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by gawdonblue on Tuesday November 07 2017, @08:48PM (5 children)
Yeah, wonder if they asked for the billions in back taxes at the same meeting?
(Score: 4, Informative) by bob_super on Tuesday November 07 2017, @09:44PM (2 children)
That's the problem. The EU is trying to force Ireland to tax Apple.
Ireland is trying not to, because those tax schemes are the pre-brexit key to their prosperity (post-brexit, being the only anglophone and EU still helps).
I think Cook is sending a message to Ireland to push the EU back stronger. Since it doesn't look possible under the current treaties, Apple may take its investment to the next friendliest place (reset the clock on the tax rulings)
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @10:21PM (1 child)
-~LINK)]}>~-
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @10:21PM
http://www.warplife.com/tips/finance/asset/protection/money-laundering/howto/internet/ [warplife.com]
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday November 07 2017, @10:20PM
Paradise papers leaked, and Apple isn't sure it will actually HAVE the money to pay them back.
Besides, didn't apple just move EU headquarters to the Jersey Islands or some place
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html [nytimes.com]
https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/apples-secret-offshore-island-hop-revealed-by-paradise-papers-leak-icij/ [icij.org]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday November 07 2017, @10:31PM
So would he, like a certain Sun salesman claimed in the 1990s, give a blowjob to close the sale? Inquiring minds want to know.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by qzm on Tuesday November 07 2017, @10:17PM (4 children)
Apple already moved most of that, it is now based in Jersey.
And of course they were almost certainly never planning to build that data center anyway, it was just part of the game to get their 'special' tax status.
It is even more of a joke that they claim the 'value' of their work not resides in Jersey, where they dont even pretend to do any actual development.
The hammer needs to be bought down on this - they claim its all legitimate because they claim profits should be priced where the actual 'value' of the product is created.
So, Apple, perhaps you would like to point to the huge R&D efforts you operate in Jersey?
A branch office of the offshore tax avoidance firm Appleby doesnt really count now, does it?
http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/07/technology/apple-tax-jersey-paradise-papers/index.html [cnn.com]
I have no doubt some pockets were very nicely lined over all of this though - pity the unwashed masses in Ireland will never see a dollar.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @10:24PM
I worked at 6 Infinite Loop at a time when the company had 11,000. Now it has something like 60,000 - maybe more by now - but all the manufacturing is done by contractors.
That's why I cannot keep up with their ever-changing deprecations.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @11:02PM (1 child)
Aren't the patricks super smart? They thought being a tax shelter within EU will bring them the pot of gold.
Maybe the limeys were right about the Irish.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 07 2017, @11:08PM
Yes, they are. They got rid of an entity that was not contributing anything of value to them. Even the office space they took was a waste of resources, filled as it was with lawyers and crooked bean- counters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 08 2017, @08:23AM
Jersey is not part of the EU, Apple has not moved their EU headquarters. They just moved huge amount of cash to Jersey since the tax is 0% there for foreign companies.