Time has posted its Finalists for Person of the Year today and Apple’s CEO Tim Cook it on the list. Time credits the Alabama native for introducing a number of new products as well as coming out as the first openly gay Fortune 500 CEO.
Tim Cook, who introduced Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple Watch, and Apple Pay this year, and whose decision to come out made him the first openly gay Fortune 500 CEO.
Other nominees (that don’t necessarily conform to “person” moniker) include:
- The Ferguson protesters, who took to the streets in August following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer, and again in November when a grand jury declined to indict the officer in the killing.
- The Ebola caregivers, who are still fighting the biggest Ebola outbreak in history, that has so far taken the lives of nearly7,000 people in West Africa.
- Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who has remained in the headlines throughout this year, from his country’s stewardship of the Winter Olympics in Sochi to its annexation of Crimea, and its role in the ongoing civil strife in eastern Ukraine.
- Taylor Swift, one of the world’s top-selling pop artists, who this year shook up the music industry by pulling her music from streaming service Spotify, which she believes should compensate artists more.
- Jack Ma, an English teacher turned founder and CEO of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant which debuted a $25 billion IPO.
- Masoud Barzani, the acting president of the Iraqi Kurdish Region since 2005, who has deftly threaded the region’s push for independence with the ongoing fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria.
- Roger Goodell, the National Football League commissioner whose leadership has been under great scrutiny this year as the league dealt with public incidents of domestic abuse by players such as Ray Rice, among other controversies.
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With some of those selections I think Time should either rename or reevaluate their choices.
The Ferguson Protestors? Vladimir Putin? Roger Goodell? In my opinion – these would be the recipients of the “Far too much ink already” Award.
YMMV
Away from this circle jerk, few cate about Cook.
Sorry.
… few care about Cook
I think that Tim Cook should be “Person of the Year” but not for coming out publicly. It should be for the great job he is doing as CEO as one of the largest companies in the world (stock price, iPhone 6, 6+,Mac Pro, retina iMac, iPad Air 2, mini 3, Apple Pay, Apple Watch). His private life should have nothing to do with winning this title.
The rest of these finalists are pretty bad choices except for Barzani.
Forbes already has a business person of the year, so there’s no reason for TIME to include that as a factor.
My vote is Ebola.
Different magazine, different list. How many “10 Sexiest” lists are there?
And none have listed me … yet.
Maybe Shamesung’s Wall of Shame will post your hoof print, Herb?
Are you $#%@ing kidding me?!?!? Ferguson protestors a.k.a. violent criminals trying to rob and destroy everything in sight. Vladimir Putin, the hate filled tyrant who would gun down Tim Cook in a heartbeat. Taylor Swift, the most UNtalentent tramp in the music business. (titled used to belong to Madonna) and Jack Ma whose company dumps the largest amount of TRASH on the world markets since the invention of New York garbage barges.
It’s not a popularity contest.
I think Hitler was once MOY.
The title is just what it is. “Most Important Person”. It isn’t “the most amazing person”, or “the coolest person”, or “the person who I’d most like to grab a beer with”. It’s the person who, for better OR for worse, had the largest impact on the world this year.
That being said, this list is still shit.
I “came out” earlier today. Bought some shopping and came back again. I “came out” again shortly thereafter, picked the shorts up that I’d left to have a new press stud fitted and went swimming at the local Country Club, then I “came back” again. Any medals available?