Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960)[1] is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer ofApple Inc. Cook had previously been the company's chief operating officer under its co-founderSteve Jobs.[2] Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as a senior vice president for worldwide operations, and then as vice president for worldwide sales and operations.[3] He was appointed chief executive on August 24, 2011, after Jobs, who had cancer, resigned and died later that year.[4]
During his tenure as the chief executive of Apple and while serving on its board of directors, he has advocated for the political reform of international and domestic surveillance,cybersecurity, national manufacturing, andenvironmental preservation. Since becoming CEO, Cook has also replaced Jobs's micromanagement with a more liberal style and implemented a collaborative culture at Apple.[5]: 314 [6]
Outside of Apple, Cook engages in philanthropy; in March 2015 he said he planned to donate his fortune tocharity.[11] In 2014, Cook became the first and only chief executive of aFortune 500 company to publicly come out asgay.[12][13] In October 2014, the Alabama Academy of Honor inducted Cook, who spoke on the state's record ofLGBT rights.[14] It is the highest honor Alabama gives its citizens.[15] In 2012 and 2021, Cook appeared on theTime 100,Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[16][17]
After graduating from Auburn University, Cook spent twelve years inIBM's personal computer business, ultimately as director of North Americanfulfillment.[27] During this time, Cook also earned his MBA from Duke University, becoming a Fuqua Scholar in 1988.[28] Later, he was thechief operating officer of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics.[29] In 1997, he became the vice president for corporate materials atCompaq, but took up his position at Apple six months later.[30]
Any purely rational consideration of cost and benefits lined up in Compaq's favor, and the people who knew me best advised me to stay at Compaq... On that day in early 1998, I listened to my intuition, not the left side of my brain or for that matter even the people who knew me best... no more than five minutes into my initial interview with Steve, I wanted to throw caution and logic to the wind and join Apple. My intuition already knew that joining Apple was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for the creative genius and to be on the executive team that could resurrect a great American company.[31]
His first position was senior vice president for worldwide operations.[32] Cook closed factories and warehouses, and replaced them with contract manufacturers; this resulted in a reduction of the company's inventory from months to days. Predicting its importance, his group had invested in long-term deals such as advance investment inflash memory since 2005. This guaranteed a stable supply of what became theiPod Nano, theniPhone andiPad. Competitors atHewlett-Packard described their cancelledHP TouchPad tablet computer and later said that it was made from "cast-off, reject iPad parts".[33] Cook's actions were recognized for keeping costs under control, and combined with the rest of the company, generated huge profits.[34]
In January 2007,[35] Cook was promoted to lead operations and was chief executive in 2009, while Jobs, in failing health, was away on a leave of absence. In January 2011, Apple's board of directors approved a third medical leave of absence requested by Jobs. During that time, Cook was responsible for most of Apple's day-to-day operations, while Jobs made most major decisions.[36][37]
Apple chief executive
After Jobs resigned as CEO and became chairman of the board, Cook was named the new chief executive officer of Apple Inc. on August 24, 2011.[38][39] Six weeks later, on October 5, 2011, Jobs died due to complications frompancreatic cancer.[40]Forbes contributor Robin Ferracone wrote in September 2011: "Jobs and Cook proceeded to forge a strong partnership, and rescued the company from its death spiral, which took it from $11 billion in revenue in 1995 down to less than $6 billion in 1998 ... Under their leadership, the company went from its nadir to a remarkable $100 billion today".[37][41]
On October 29, 2012, Cook made major changes to the company's executive team.Scott Forstall resigned as senior vice president ofiOS after the poorly received launch ofApple Maps, and became an advisor to Cook until he eventually departed from the company in 2013.John Browett, who was senior VP of retail, was dismissed six months after he commenced at Apple, and given 100,000 shares worth US$60 million.[42] Forstall's duties were divided among four other Apple executives: design SVPJony Ive assumed leadership of Apple's human interface team;Craig Federighi became the new head of iOS software engineering; services chiefEddy Cue became responsible for Maps and Siri; andBob Mansfield, previously SVP of hardware engineering, became the head of a new technology group.[43]
Cook with Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in New Delhi
Cook made the executive changes after the third quarter of thefiscal year, when revenues and profits grew less than predicted.[44] Forstall's resignation was widely seen as a dismissal,[45][6] allegedly caused by Cook's desire to reduce "rivalries between executives",[5]: 127 and drew criticism, as Forstall had been seen as a possible successor to Cook.[46] On February 28, 2014, Cook made headlines when he challenged shareholders to "get out of the stock" if they did not share the company's views on sustainability and climate change.[47] In May 2016, Cook traveled to China to meet with government officials there after the Chinese government closed Apple's online iTunes Store and Apple Books store.[48]
In 2016, some analysts compared Cook to formerMicrosoft CEOSteve Ballmer, claiming that innovation had died down since he replaced Jobs, similar to when Ballmer became Microsoft CEO in 2000.[49][50] In December 2017, Cook was a speaker at theWorld Internet Conference in China.[51][52] Cook was appointed chairman of the advisory board forTsinghua University's economics school in October 2019 for a three-year term.[53]
Several other lawmakers criticized Cook in 2019 over Apple's decision to remove an app used by pro-democracyprotesters in Hong Kong from its App Store.[54] They accused Apple ofcensorship, and co-signed a letter to Cook that read, "Apple's decisions last week to accommodate the Chinese government by taking downHKMaps is deeply concerning. We urge you in the strongest terms to reverse course, to demonstrate that Apple puts values above market access, and to stand with the brave men and women fighting for basic rights and dignity in Hong Kong."[55] Cook explained in an internal letter why the company removed the Hong Kong mapping app used by protesters to coordinate movements.[56]
In 2016, Cook signed a $275 billion deal with Chinese officials.[57] The deal – personally negotiated by Cook – paved the way for increased censorship by Apple in China, for example the removal ofMuslim content, preventing users from entering numbers that refer to the date of theTiananmen Square Massacre, censoring Chinese words like "human rights" or "democracy", and manipulatingApple Maps to support China in theSenkaku Islands dispute by making Chinese-claimed islands appear larger than they actually were.[58][59][60] In August 2021, Cook received an approximate $750 million payout, selling more than five million shares in Apple, ten years after becoming CEO.[61][62]
Public image
Leadership style
As Apple Inc. CEO, Cook regularly begins sending emails at 4:30 am each weekday, and in the past held Sunday-night staff meetings by telephone to prepare for the next week.[63] In May 2013 Cook shared that his leadership focused on people, strategy, and execution; he explained, "If you get those three right the world is a great place."[64] Under Cook's leadership, Apple increased its donations to charity, and in 2013 he hiredLisa Jackson, formerly the head of theEnvironmental Protection Agency, to assist Apple with the development of its renewable energy activities.[65][66][67]
Public affiliations
Cook with PresidentDonald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, April 25, 2018
In 2015, Cook said he donated toDemocratic senatorsChuck Schumer andPatrick Leahy for their stances one-book pricing and surveillance reform, respectively.[73] During the same election cycle, he hosted a fundraiser for Republican senatorRob Portman.[73] In early March 2016, Cook disclosed that he donated to the election campaign of Democratic representativeZoe Lofgren of California. In early June, Cook hosted a private fundraiser along with then speaker of the U.S. House of RepresentativesPaul Ryan. The event was described byPolitico as "a joint fundraising committee aimed at helping to elect other HouseRepublicans".[73]
In 2018, at a privacy conference in Brussels, Cook expressed his opinions on the stockpiling of personal data by tech firms, suggesting that it amounted to surveillance and should make the public "very uncomfortable."[78] In a meeting for the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board with President Donald Trump in March 2019, Trump referred to Cook as "Tim Apple".[79] Cook leaned into the slip-up by changing his display name onTwitter to Tim Apple.[80]
On January 20, 2025, Cook attended the standing room only second inauguration of Donald Trump inside the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Other billionaires were also there including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.[81]
Personal life
Cook is afitness enthusiast and enjoys hiking, cycling, and going to the gym. He is known for being solitary, using an off-campus fitness center for privacy, and little is publicly shared about his personal life. He explained in October 2014 that he has sought to achieve a "basic level of privacy".[63][67] Cook was misdiagnosed withmultiple sclerosis in 1996, an incident he said made him "see the world in a different way". He has since taken part in charity fundraising, such as cycle races to raise money for the disease. He later told theAuburn alumni magazine that his symptoms came from "lugging a lot of incredibly heavy luggage around".[82]
Cook has said that in 2009 he offered a portion of hisliver to Jobs, as they shared a rare blood type. Cook said that Jobs responded by yelling, "I'll never let you do that. I'll never do that."[83] While delivering the 2010commencement speech at Auburn, Cook emphasized the importance ofintuition during significant decision-making processes, and explained that preparation and hard work are also necessary to execute on intuition.[84] In 2015, Cook was named to Duke University's board of trustees for a six-year term.[85] He later delivered the university's commencement address in 2018.[86]
In June 2014, Cook attended San Francisco'sgay pride parade along with a delegation of Apple staff.[87] On October 30, Cook publiclycame out as gay in an editorial forBloomberg Business, saying, "I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me."[88] He consulted withAnderson Cooper, who had publicly come out himself, on aspects of the statement, and cleared the timing to ensure it would not distract from business interests.[12] Cook had been open about his sexuality "for years", and while many people at the company were aware of his sexual orientation, he sought to focus on Apple's products and customers rather than his personal life. He ended hisop-ed by writing, "We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick."[88]
In September 2015, Cook clarified onThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert, "Where I valued my privacy significantly, I felt that I was valuing it too far above what I could do for other people, so I wanted to tell everyone my truth."[89] In October 2019, he talked about the decision and remarked on how it was thanks toLGBTQ people who had fought fortheir rights before him that paved the way for his success, and that he needed to let younger generations know that—in a coding analogy—he saw being gay as a feature his life had to offer rather than any problem.[12] He hoped his openness could helpLGBTQ youth dealing with homelessness andsuicide hope that their situation could get better.[12]
^"Tim Cook's memo takes public battle for gay rights to his employees".upstart.bizjournals.com/. December 23, 2013.Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. RetrievedNovember 1, 2014.The traditionally reserved CEO kicked off this recent burst of public statements in support of the rights of theLGBTQ community with an op-ed in theWall Street Journal urging Congress to pass the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) protecting employees against discrimination in the workplace.
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