Apple and Goldman were planning stock-trading feature for iPhones until markets turned last year
As equities soared in 2020 and consumers flocked to trading apps like Robinhood, Apple and Goldman Sachs were working on an investing feature that would let consumers buy and sell stocks, according to three people familiar with the plans.
The project was shelved last year as the markets turned south, said the sources, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter.
The effort, which has not been previously reported, would have added to Apple’s suite of financial products powered by Goldman. Apple first teamed up with the Wall Street bank to offer a credit card in 2019, and then added buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans and a high-yield savings account. The company said last month that the savings account offering had climbed past $10 billion in user deposits.
Representatives for Apple and Goldman declined to comment.
Apple CEO Tim Cook holds a new iPhone 15 Pro during the ‘Wonderlust’ event at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2023.
Loren Elliott | Reuters
Apple was working on the investing feature at a time of zero interest rates during Covid, when consumers were stuck at home and spending more of their time and their record savings in trading shares, including meme stocks like GameStop and AMC, from their smartphones.
Apple’s conversations with Goldman began during that hype cycle in 2020, two sources said. Their work progressed, and an Apple investing feature was meant to roll out in 2022. One hypothetical use case pitched by executives involved the ability for iPhone users with extra cash to put money into Apple shares, one person said.
But as markets were roiled by higher rates and soaring inflation, the Apple team feared user backlash if people lost money in the stock market with the assistance of an Apple product, the sources said. That’s when the iPhone maker and Goldman switched directions and pushed the plan to launch savings accounts, which benefit from higher rates.
The status of the stock-trading project is unclear after Goldman CEO David Solomon bowed to internal and external pressure and decided to retrench from nearly all of the bank’s consumer efforts. One source said the infrastructure for an investing feature is mostly built and ready to go should Apple eventually decide to move forward with it.
Source: Apple
The Apple Card launched with much fanfare three years ago, but the business brought regulatory heat and racked up losses as its user base expanded. Earlier this year, Goldman rolled out a high-interest savings account for Apple Card users, offering a 4.15% annual percentage yield.
Goldman was also central to Apple’s BNPL offering. The product, called Apple Pay Later, can be used for purchases of $50 to $100 “at most websites and apps that accept Apple Pay,” according to the support page. Borrowers can split a purchase into four payments over six weeks without incurring interest or fees.
Before Goldman’s pivot away from retail banking, the company examined ways to expand its partnership with Apple, sources said. More recently, Goldman was in discussions to offload both its card and savings account to American Express.
Had plans for the trading app progressed, Apple would have entered a market with stiff competition, featuring the likes of Robinhood, SoFi and Block’s Square, along with traditional brokerage firms such as Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley’s E-Trade.
Stock trading has become another way for financial firms to keep customers and drive engagement on their platforms. Apple was pursuing the same approach, one source said. It’s a move that could capture the interest of regulators, who have scrutinized Apple for its App Store practices. Robinhood has also been grilled by regulators for what they described as “gamifying” markets.
Other tech companies have been pushing into the space. Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, is working on a way to let users buy stocks and cryptocurrencies through a partnership with eToro. PayPal had plans to launch stock trading after hiring a key industry executive in 2021. But the company abandoned those plans, and said on an earnings call that it would cut spending and refocus on its core e-commerce business.
Omada Health smart devices in use.
Courtesy: Omada Health
Virtual care company Omada Health filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital health company that’s signaled its intent to hit the public markets despite a turbulent economy.
Founded in 2012, Omada offers virtual care programs to support patients with chronic conditions like prediabetes, diabetes and hypertension. The company describes its approach as a “between-visit care model” that is complementary to the broader health-care ecosystem, according to its prospectus.
Revenue increased 57% in the first quarter to $55 million, up from $35.1 million during the same period last year, the filing said. The San Francisco-based company generated $169.8 million in revenue during 2024, up 38% from $122.8 million the previous year.
Omada’s net loss narrowed to $9.4 million during its first quarter from $19 million during the same period last year. It reported a net loss of $47.1 million in 2024, compared to a $67.5 million net loss during 2023.
The IPO market has been largely dormant across the tech sector for the past three years, and within digital health, it’s been almost completely dead. After President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy that plunged U.S. markets into turmoil last month, taking a company public is an even riskier endeavor. Online lender Klarna delayed its long-anticipated IPO, as did ticket marketplace StubHub.
But Omada Health isn’t the first digital health company to file for its public market debut this year. Virtual physical therapy startup Hinge Health filed its prospectus in March, and provided an update with its first-quarter earnings on Monday, a signal to investors that it’s looking to forge ahead.
Omada contracts with employers, and the company said it works with more than 2,000 customers and supports 679,000 members as of March 31. More than 156 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition, so there is a significant market opportunity, according to the company’s filing.
In 2022, Omada announced a $192 million funding round that pushed its valuation above $1 billion. U.S. Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity’s FMR LLC are the largest outside shareholders in the company, each owning between 9% and 10% of the stock.
“To our prospective shareholders, thank you for learning more about Omada. I invite you join our journey,” Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy said in the filing. “In front of us is a unique chance to build a promising and successful business while truly changing lives.”
WATCH: The IPO market is likely to pick up near Labor Day, says FirstMark’s Rick Heitzmann
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