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Everything you need to know about Apple's CEO

Tim Cook was appointed CEO in 2011 when Steve Jobs stepped away from the company as his health worsened. Cook was handpicked by Jobs to be his replacement, having served as a close friend of Jobs during their entire career together.

A graduate of Auburn University with a degree in industrial engineering, Cook earned his Masters from Duke University’s School of business. Prior to joining Apple, Cook spent 12 years at IBM, then served as the Chief Operating Officer of Intelligent Electronics. He then had a short stint at Compaq.

Cook first joined Apple in 1998 after being recruited by Jobs. Cook remarked in a commencement address at Auburn University that, five minutes into his interview with Jobs, he knew he wanted to join Apple. “My intuition already knew that joining Apple was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work for the creative genius,” he remarked.

At Apple, Cook started out as senior vice president of worldwide operating. He served as interim CEO in 2009 while Steve Jobs was on medical leave. In 2011, Cook again stepped in to lead day-to-day operations while Jobs was ill, before ultimately being named CEO permanently just before the death of Jobs.

Cook has been very outspoken on a variety of social issues, including the need to protect user data and privacy, as evident by his vocal refusal to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino gunmen. Cook has also voiced his displeasure with controversial legislation that enables LGBT discrimination in a handful of states in the United States. Likewise, Cook has frequently called on the United States Congress to pass LGBT protection legislation. He became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 2014, as well. Cook has led Apple in the San Francisco Pride Parade in recent years.

View all Tim Cook-related articles below:

UBS analyst who questioned Cook on strategy discusses ‘jobs theory,’ Apple culture & more

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In the earnings call following Apple’s Q4 2016 financial results, UBS managing director Steven Milunovich asked CEO Tim Cook a rather pointed question: ‘Does Apple has a grand strategy for what it wants to do over next 3-5 years? Or does it react to the market then decide?’

Cook was widely felt to be uncomfortable with the question, and Milunovich has now explained why he asked it, and how well prepared he thinks Apple is for the future …


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Trump tells Tim Cook directly he wants Apple to make products in the USA, promises tax incentives

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President-elect Donald Trump promised during his campaign that he would ‘get Apple to start making their computers and their iPhones on our land, not in China’ – and he has now said the same thing directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook. He told the New York Times what he’d said.

I got a call from Tim Cook at Apple, and I said, ‘Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States, where instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam, and going to the places that you go to, you’re making your product right here.’

Cook reportedly responded with a brief and non-committal comment …


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Apple CEO Tim Cook was considered by Hillary Clinton as US Vice President pick according to leaked emails

As the US Presidential campaign for Hillary Clinton continues to reel from daily deluge of emails released from Campaign Chairman John Podesta via Wikileaks, we’re finding a number of topics related to Apple and specifically its CEO Tim Cook.

Today’s installment is probably worth noting. It has Cook listed as a possible VP candidate pick by Podesta along with many other political, business and tech luminaries seen below.


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Tim Cook talks Augmented Reality, Steve Jobs, need for encryption at Utah Tech Tour [Video]

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Tim Cook’s surprise appearance at the Utah Tech Tour focused heavily on Apple’s continued fight for strong encryption. As noted by The Salt Lake Tribune and Desert News Cook continued to defend Apple’s refusal to implement a “backdoor” to circumvent its security measures. Cook also noted of Steve Jobs’ affect on Apple today…


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Tim Cook liquidates $65M of his AAPL stock, still holds around $110M

SEC filings reveal that Apple CEO Tim Cook has sold a little over 600,000 of his AAPL shares over the past couple of weeks, netting him approximately $65M. He continues to hold more than a million shares worth some $110M.

The sell-off represents a substantial chunk of the stock bonuses he received last week as he reached his fifth anniversary as CEO …


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Tim Cook hosts fundraiser for Hillary Clinton alongside environmental head Lisa Jackson

We reported last month that Apple CEO Tim Cook was to host a political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and the event took place last night. Apple’s environmental initiatives VP Lisa Jackson – a board member of the Clinton Foundation charity – was also in attendance.

Attendees had to hand over anything from $2,700 to $50,000 to attend the event, which took place at a private residence in Los Altos, and a couple of them shared some photos and a short video clip …


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As Tim Cook set to receive $100M+ on 5th anniversary as CEO, Financial Times rates his performance

With Tim Cook set to receive more than $100M in stock bonuses as he reaches his fifth anniversary as Apple’s CEO today, the Financial Times has assessed the performance of AAPL under his leadership in a series of five charts.

In a ‘good news, bad news’ chart, the FT begins with a Bloomberg chart showing cumulative sales of the iPhone against income from the device as a percentage of total revenue. While analysts have focused on recent year-on-year dips, there’s no arguing with the steady rise in cumulative sales, Apple recently selling its billionth iPhone.

But the overall trend is also for the company to be increasingly dependent on iPhone revenue, making the decline in sales more worrying than it might otherwise be …


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Apple CEO Tim Cook talks ahead of iPhone 7 launch about advice, AI/AR, and the future [Video]

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The Washington Post this weekend published a very in-depth video/interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook just weeks before Apple is set to unveil its biggest product of the year by far, the iPhone 7. In it, Cook talks about the incredibly important people outside of Apple he turns to for advice at pivotal moments, including Warren Buffett on returning cash to stockholders, Anderson Cooper on coming out, and folks like Bill Clinton and Laurene Powell Jobs on testifying before congress.

He also touches on the future of Apple, such as its Artificial Intelligence and and Augmented/Virtual Reality ambitions…
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In new interviews, Eddy Cue explains why Apple launched a public beta for iOS, as Tim Cook outlines future ambitions

FastCo piece based on interviews with CEO Tim Cook and SVPs Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi may be long on commentary and light on quotes, but it does provide a few interesting insights along the way.

Apple’s decision to offer a public beta program for iOS, for example, was in direct response to the Maps debacle …


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Tim Cook reportedly hosting Hillary Clinton fundraiser next month following Paul Ryan event

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Apple CEO Tim Cook is reportedly hosting a political fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign next month, according to Buzzfeed. As the report notes, Cook will be hosting the event as a private citizen as Apple doesn’t have a political action committee like other companies, although Apple’s Lisa Jackson will also be in attendance. Jackson serves as the company’s VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. While the fundraiser itself isn’t so much surprising for Cook, it does follow a prior political fundraiser hosted by Cook for Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan…


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Live blog: Apple’s fiscal year Q3 2016 earnings call

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Just minutes ago, Apple released its official Q3 2016 earnings and as usual, the earnings release will be followed by a live conference call. Typically, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri give a deeper look into the results, while questions will also be taken from analysts and investors.

In case you missed it, Apple reported $42.4 billion in revenue and $7.8 billion in operating profit. Contributing to those results were sales of  40.3 million iPhones, 9.9 million iPads, and 4.2 million Macs. As usual, Apple did not break out sales of the Apple Watch, which it says is for competitive reasons.

As usual, we’ll have live coverage of Apple’s earnings call in this post. The call will begin at 2PM ET/5PM PT. Tim Cook will likely speak first, followed by Maestri. The Q&A session will round out the call.


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Tim Cook tweets about ‘senseless killings’ this week – and new tweet about Dallas officers [U]

Update: Since Cook’s original tweet, five Dallas police officers have been killed, and six more wounded, by gunmen shooting during protests at the earlier deaths. Cook sent a further tweet in response.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has tweeted about the ‘senseless killings’ in response to the fatal police shootings of two black men in separate incidents in Louisiana and Minnesota.


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