If you are a regular TikTok user, you will surely have seen a video of Daniel Mac on some occasion. Maybe his name is not familiar to you, but they are all the same. He looks for luxury cars on the street and approaches to ask the driver what he is doing. In this way, we can, on the one hand, see the car from the inside and, on the other hand, discover what people do with vehicles like this.
On August 18, 2022, Tony Blevins was at a car show in California when this TikToker asked him what he did for a living. His response was: “I drive big cars, play tennis and fondle women with big breastsbut I have weekends off and I’m my own boss. That statement cost him his job at Apple. Their job was to interact with suppliers, reduce costs and increase quality. The key, of course, was the techniques he used.
An engineer interested in technology since childhood
Anthony Jackson “Tony” Blevins is an industrial engineer who graduated from North Carolina State University. He was born in 1967 and has always had a particular interest in technologyHis professional career began with an internship at Burlington Industries while in college, although he graduated shortly after and began working for IBM.
At that time, the company was at its peak and Blevins became director of development at its lab in Scotland. Things were going well, so Apple took an interest, and finally, in 2000, He eventually left his position at IBM to join those in Cupertino. as responsible for purchasing parts for the iPod.
His meteoric rise within Apple
In 2007, he was also in charge of obtaining parts for the iPhone and iPad, in addition to managing to reduce their price. This was his specialty. In fact, there are those who called him “The Blevinator” because he was like a machine, like Terminator but in a negotiator version with a friendly face. Their tactics were questionable, some even petty, but they certainly worked perfectly. Furthermore, as Apple’s VP of purchasing, they said his job was to “bully suppliers to cut costs.”
For example, when faced with a proposal from UPS to be the courier company used by Apple for its shipments, it decided to reject it and refer it to FedEX, its eternal competitor. It also called several suppliers at the same time to its offices so that they would be aware of their competition and fight among themselves to offer the best price. It had nothing to do, it stay calm and see who finally gives in.
One of his greatest achievements was Apple Park itself. At the beginning of the work, Tim Cook asked him to renegotiate the price of the exterior glass. They are huge and very complex to make, which is why the supplier asked for a billion dollars for them. Tony called them, nobody knows what he said, but They reduced their price by 70%. You can’t say he wasn’t good at his job.
His sudden departure from the company
Of course, after his statements in a TikTok video, the phrase went viral. We are talking about “I drive cars, I play tennis and I caress women with big breasts, but I have free weekends and I am my own boss”. An expression that denotes classism, machismo and a tone that does not correspond at all to Apple’s values. Apparently, Several employees on his team saw it and sent it to human resources. Blevins himself apologized, saying it was a failed attempt at humor, but his statement was unacceptable.
As a public figure, this meant his sudden dismissal and the relaxation was no excuse. Jeff Williams, the COO, decided to remove him from his position with immediate effect. In fact, when all this became public, Apple shares fell to record lowSo it is clear that something had to be done. Little is known today about the life of this leader. He does not seem to have found work since, and if he did, it was certainly in a much more discreet position.
An older version of this article was originally published on 08/12/2023.
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