Apple and Netflix are among the latest companies to pull out of the South by Southwest Conference scheduled for March 13 in Austin, Texas.
As fears about the spread of the coronavirus continue to mount, with more infections and deaths being reported in the U.S., companies are increasingly pulling out of or cancelling conferences. SXSW has already had a number of high-profile companies cancel their plans to attend, including Amazon, Facebook and Twitter.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has announced it’s cancelling its plans to attend despite its intentions to debut three new Apple TV+ programs. Similarly, Netflix planned on unveiling a feature film and four documentaries. CNN has also cancelled its plans to attend.
As Bloomberg points out, with Apple’s WWDC scheduled for June, the company will soon have to make a decision about whether to proceed or change to a virtual conference as Google did with its Google Cloud Next conference.