• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechApple

Here’s Apple’s Holiday Gift to Its Employees

By
Kif Leswing
Kif Leswing
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kif Leswing
Kif Leswing
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 15, 2015, 10:23 AM ET
First Apple Store In South America Opens In Rio de Janeiro
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - FEBRUARY 15: A customer (C) celebrates after entering Brazil's first Apple retail store minutes after it opened to the public for the first time in the Village Mall shopping center on February 15, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The store is a 'pavilion' design with a 100-foot curved glass panel in front and opens to the public four months before the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It is Apple's first physical store in South America. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)Mario Tama / Getty Images

Apple’s employees are receiving an unusually generous holiday gift from Cupertino this year.

Apple executive Eddy Cue told employees in a video message Monday that they would be receiving a free nine-month subscription to Apple Music later this month, according to MacRumors.

Last week, Apple employees received a free pair of urBeats headphones, which sell for $100. Combined with the $90 streaming music subscription, the retail value of Apple’s holiday gift this year is $190—worth significantly more than the $60 customized Incase backpack Apple employees received last year.

Apple’s annual holiday gift goes out to all of its employees, including retail workers, employees based at in Cupertino, and staffers at international satellite offices. There are 66,000 Apple employees in the United States, including 30,000 retail employees. Apple employs more than 100,000 workers worldwide.

The free subscription to Apple Music should help Apple’s retail Geniuses better understand with the service and promote Apple Music more effectively in-store. CEO Tim Cook said in October that Apple Music had 6.5 million paying customers, and another 8.5 million in a free three-month trial period, still a fraction of rival streaming service Spotify’s subscribers.

Free Beats headphones aren’t the only bonus staffers received from Apple this year. Cook announced in October that all Apple employees, including retail workers, are newly eligible for restricted stock units, a type of stock grant option that was previously offered only to corporate leadership and product engineers.

Apple (AAPL) isn’t the only tech giant to give its employees an annual holiday present. Last year, Google (GOOG) gave each of its workers a smartwatch. This year, Mountain View topped that present by giving its workers a free Nexus 5X Android smartphone—retail value $329—and if Google employees didn’t want a new phone, the company offered to make a donation to charity instead.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

About the Author
By Kif Leswing
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

AIMeta
It’s ‘kind of jarring’: AI labs like Meta, Deepseek, and Xai earned some of the worst grades possible on an existential safety index
By Patrick Kulp and Tech BrewDecember 5, 2025
4 hours ago
Elon Musk
Big TechSpaceX
Musk’s SpaceX discusses record valuation, IPO as soon as 2026
By Edward Ludlow, Loren Grush, Lizette Chapman, Eric Johnson and BloombergDecember 5, 2025
4 hours ago
data center
EnvironmentData centers
The rise of AI reasoning models comes with a big energy tradeoff
By Rachel Metz, Dina Bass and BloombergDecember 5, 2025
4 hours ago
netflix
Arts & EntertainmentAntitrust
Hollywood writers say Warner takeover ‘must be blocked’
By Thomas Buckley and BloombergDecember 5, 2025
4 hours ago
person
CybersecurityDigital
Dictionaries’ words of the year are trying to tell us something about being online in 2025
By Roger J. KreuzDecember 5, 2025
5 hours ago
Greg Peters
Big TechMedia
Top analyst says Netflix’s $72 billion bet on Warner Bros. isn’t about the ‘death of Hollywood’ at all. It’s really about Google
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 5, 2025
7 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Two months into the new fiscal year and the U.S. government is already spending more than $10 billion a week servicing national debt
By Eleanor PringleDecember 4, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
‘Godfather of AI’ says Bill Gates and Elon Musk are right about the future of work—but he predicts mass unemployment is on its way
By Preston ForeDecember 4, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Nearly 4 million new manufacturing jobs are coming to America as boomers retire—but it's the one trade job Gen Z doesn't want
By Emma BurleighDecember 4, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he works 7 days a week, including holidays, in a constant 'state of anxiety' out of fear of going bankrupt
By Jessica CoacciDecember 4, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Real Estate
‘There is no Mamdani effect’: Manhattan luxury home sales surge after mayoral election, undercutting predictions of doom and escape to Florida
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 4, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Tariffs and the $38 trillion national debt: Kevin Hassett sees ’big reductions’ in deficit while Scott Bessent sees a ‘shrinking ice cube’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 4, 2025
1 day ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.