Apple Relocates International iTunes Business to Ireland

Apple has confirmed that it is to close its Luxembourg branch and transfer its international iTunes business to Ireland on 5 February. The official relocation was disclosed in a note sent to developers, according to AppleInsider.

Apple originally announced in September 2016 that it would move its entire iTunes business – registered as Apple Distribution International – to its expanded Hollyhill facility in Cork, Ireland.

“Apple has been operating in Ireland since 1980 and now employs nearly 6,000 people. As we continue to expand our operations in Cork, we are moving our iTunes business there, and will support content stores for more than 100 countries from our campus at Hollyhill,” the company said in a letter to suppliers late last year.

Most of the workloads have already been moved to Ireland already, in preparation for the shift. In fact, local media reported that the Luxembourg office may have merely been an official address that Apple is retaining until February 4, after having shut its doors as early as July last year.

The Ireland office already employed about 5,000 people at the time of the original announcement, and the move was expected to add another 1,000, bringing the total headcount at Cork to about 6,000 Apple staffers.

Apple’s international iTunes office had been located in Luxembourg since 2004 – but the unit closed in early July according to local reports.

After the European Commission ruled that Apple was given a sweetheart deal by the Irish Government, the company was keen to highlight its long-standing presence in the country.

“We have operated continuously in Cork ever since, even through periods of uncertainty about our own business, and today we employ nearly 6,000 people across Ireland. The vast majority are still in Cork — including some of the very first employees — now performing a wide variety of functions as part of Apple’s global footprint,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said after the ruling.

“As responsible corporate citizens, we are also proud of our contributions to local economies across Europe, and to communities everywhere,” Cook continued. “As our business has grown over the years, we have become the largest taxpayer in Ireland, the largest taxpayer in the United States, and the largest taxpayer in the world.”

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