You might think that Tim Cook Apple has achieved much of its success thanks to the visionary figure of Steve Jobs, but that would be unfair, since the Cupertino firm has achieved its status as the most valued company in the world thanks to the decisions that Cook has made. since he was appointed CEO in a distant 2011.
A man who many have called boring, but who thanks to his slow and steady leadership has managed to avoid layoffs in a turbulent environment and launch devices that are always among the best of the year.
Now, Who is Tim Cook? How did he really get to where he is?
Since he was born 62 years ago on November 1, 1960 in Robertsdale, Alabama, His life has always been linked to technology. From his studies in Industrial Engineering through his 12-year work at IBM, to his entry into Apple in the late 90s, by falling absolutely in love with Steve Jobs’ vision, virtually everything he has touched has been a success.
A man hidden behind a myth of technology, but who Apple’s huge success is really due to him in recent years thanks to his leadership.
To understand him, we need to delve into his family, his customs and his professional career, traits that have led him to where he is.
And throughout these years, his working method has led him to amass an enormous wealthfar from giants like Bill Gates or Elon Musk, but which earn him a place as one of the most influential people in the modern world.
Family and personal life
Tim Cook currently has no partner or childrenbut he does have a nephew whose university education he is paying for. As for the rest of his fortune, the billionaire has assured that he will donate it all to charity.
It is true that she had a partner a few years ago, Benjamin Ling, an Asian American, but they both broke up and, at the moment, she is not known to have a boyfriend.
This is mainly due to the fact that He is a rather reserved and solitary person.as can be seen in some of their habits and customs.
For years he kept his sexual orientation a secret until in 2014 he revealed to Bloomberg that he was gaysomething that he considers “one of the best gifts that God has given him.”
Plus, he gets up every morning around 4 and goes to the gym an hour later, but not Apple’s, since it wants to go unnoticed. Shortly after, he goes to the offices of the Cupertino firm, where he spends practically most of the day.
Otherwise, Cook is a huge fan of fitness, cycling and hiking.something that could have motivated Apple’s commitment to health and sport with its Apple Watch.
Career path
Studies
Tim Cook graduated from Robertsdale High School in 1978. He then attended Auburn University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering in 1982. He completed his studies with an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 1988.
Despite such a resume, Apple’s CEO assured in 2019 that A college degree was not necessary to be successfulHe commented that there are certain skills that students don’t learn in college. Like, for example, writing code.
Jobs
His first known job was at IBM which he started in 1982 while he was combining his MBA studies and where he stayed for 12 years.
Here he rose to the position of Director of North American Fulfillment, which led him to manage product manufacturing and distribution and lead large-scale business strategy in both North and South America.
In 1994 he joined Intelligent Electronics as Director of Operations, where he stayed for 4 years. In 1998 he moved to Compac, where he only stayed for 6 months.
The reason? Shortly after entering, Steve Jobs called him for an interview And although many friends advised him not to take the job because of the bad times Apple was going through in the late 90s, Cook was impressed by Jobs’ vision and decided to take the plunge.
He started to working at Apple in 1998 as Senior Vice President, where he managed worldwide sales and operations.
In less than a year, Cook managed to turn around a company that had losses of more than 1 billion dollars.
This achievement and many others led him to become COO in January 2007 and in 2009 he assumed the position of acting CEO due to Jobs’ absence due to cancer, which was detected in 2003.
Following the resignation of Jobs, who became chairman of the board, Tim Cook became CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011, And from here on it’s practically all successes for the Cupertino firm.
Successes and failures
One only has to look back at Cook’s more than 10 years in the position, where the milestone of 2 billion in capitalization achieved in 2020 and the first position for Apple as the most valuable company in the world stand out.
Outside of Apple, his contribution as an advisor to Nike and the association also stands out. National Football Foundationhis appointment as Person of the yearor 2014 by the Financial Times and one of the Most powerful people in the world from 2011 to Forbes.
It also highlights its position in the Alabama Academy of Honorthe highest award given by Alabama to its citizens and its presence in Time 100 in 2021, as one of the most influential people in the world.
But not everything is gold and, although it is true that it does not only depend on his mandate, there is a series of failures that have come under Tim Cook’s leadership. Some of them when Jobs still held the position, others with the current CEO of Apple at the helm.
In September 2012, Apple went all-in on its own navigation app, Apple Maps, which even went so far as to replace Google Maps as the default service.
It is true that today it is a complete application and a worthy competitor, but when it was released on the market it was so riddled with errors that Cook published an open letter recommending its users to use the competitor’s app.
In 2014 they introduced the iPhone 6, a fabulous device that had a huge drawback: It bent easily due to their fine design and large size. However, these were isolated cases.
In the Cook era, it also began to enter malware in the Apple Store and although it is true that the Cupertino firm has always boasted of being one of the most secure systems in the world, In 2015, it suffered one of the most serious attacks in its history.: 40 apps were infected by computer viruses and Apple had to remove them from its store.
In 2017, alongside the launch of the iPhone X, they introduced Apple AirPower, a device that debuted wireless charging. If that doesn’t ring a bell, that’s normal: it never came to market, and in March 2019 Apple quietly confirmed that Apple AirPower was dead.
Tim Cook Net Worth
Cook is currently worth an estimated $1.8 billion, according to Forbessomething that places him in 2,083rd richest person in the world. Despite this, he is one of the richest LGBT+ people in the world.
It may be surprising that a person who is in charge of Apple, one of the most powerful companies in the world, is not on the list of Bloomberg of the 500 richest people.
The reason? Cook “only” owns 837,374 shares of Apple, which represents 0.02% of the company’s total.
What is striking is that during His first year as CEO of Apple had an annual salary of $900,000something low considering what executives at Amazon, Tesla or Facebook earn and it is known that their salary is around 3 million dollars per year.
It should be noted that this figure could change downwards in the coming months, since Tim Cook is going to cut his salary by 40% to 49 million dollars, a decision that seems good to him and that has also allowed Apple to be the only technology company that has not had large layoffs or cost cuts recently.
This change in his salary could be a blow to many billionaires, but in Cook’s case it is not so significant, since he leads a very frugal life. So much so that Buy your underwear at Nordstrom’s quarterly sales.
“Money is not a motivation for me,” he says in the book. Inside Apple by Adam Lashinshy. “I want to be remembered for where I come from and being in modest surroundings helps me do that,” he says.
This surely It is due to its humble originssince he is the son of a fisherman and a pharmacist.
Another fact: since 2012, he has lived in a $1.9 million house in Palo Alto, relatively modest for the wealthy Bay Area city that has an average price of $3.3 million.
However, in 2021, he purchased another house in Southern California, near Apple headquarters, valued at more than $8.5 million, which has 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a pool and a barbecue.
Cook has to travel a lot and in this sense, here is one of his biggest expenses: a private jet worth more than $400,000 to travel on business.
Finally, it is worth noting that he is a member of the Board of Directors of Nike, which earns him an annual income of $85,000 a year with $3.4 million in stock options.
Philanthropy and political causes
It is already known that Cook will donate his entire fortune to social causes – although a small part will go to pay for his nephew’s studies – but in his role he has already made Apple much more charitable.
Apple has donated 76 million euros to charitable causes and is also involved in the Product Red initiative, an initiative that tries to combat diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, to which it has donated more than 200 million dollars.
On a more personal level, he has organized fundraisers for politicians such as former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple of change,” he admitted to Fortune in 2015.
And a curious fact: Apple CEO offered part of his liver to Steve Jobs to save his life when he needed a donor, something that never happened, of course.
They were very good friends and she has said on many occasions that she misses him very much.
More from Tim Cook: hobbies, controversies and other curiosities
Hobbies and routines
Tim Cook is a very reserved person and little is known about his private life.
However, it is known that he is a fan of hiking and cycling. A few years ago he posted a photo of Yosemite National Park on his Twitter account.
Of the little that is known about his social outings, one recalls a trip with his nephew to New York in 2016. “I’m here with my nephew, enjoying a couple of days in New York,” he told the outlet at the time. CNBC.
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Controversies
It’s not a controversy as such, but both Jobs and Cook had a huge conflict: they did not share the same vision on how to sell the iPhone.
For years Jobs’ vision prevailed, but years later, Cook’s idea was put into action and It was when the iPhone reached…