Tim Cook

After graduating from Auburn University, Cook spent 12 years in IBM's personal computer business, ultimately serving as the director of North American fulfillment.[18] During this time, Cook also earned his MBA from Duke University, becoming a Fuqua Scholar in 1988.[19] Later, he served as the chief operating officer of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics.[20] In 1997, he became the vice president for corporate materials at Compaq for six months, but left the position after being hired by Steve Jobs.[21]

In 1998, Steve Jobs asked Cook to join Apple. In a commencement speech at Auburn University, Cook said he decided to join Apple after meeting Jobs:

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.[22]

His first position was senior vice president for worldwide operations.[23] 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 in flash memory since 2005. This guaranteed a stable supply of what became the iPod Nano, then iPhone and iPad. Competitors at Hewlett-Packard described their cancelled HP TouchPad tablet computer and later said that it was made from "cast-off, reject iPad parts".[24] Cook's actions were recognized for keeping costs under control, and combined with the rest of the company, generated huge profits.[25]

Cook giving the keynote at the 2012 World Wide Developers Conference

In January 2007, Cook was promoted to lead operations[26] and served as chief executive in 2009, while Jobs was away on a leave of absence for health-related issues. 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.[27][28]

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.[29][30] Six weeks later, on October 5, 2011, Jobs died due to complications from pancreatic cancer.[31] 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".[28][32] In April 2012, Time included Cook on its annual "100 Most Influential People in the World" list.[33]

On October 29, 2012, Cook made major changes to the company's executive team. Scott Forstall resigned as senior vice president of iOS after the poorly received launch of Apple 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, when he received 100,000 shares worth US$60 million.[34] Forstall's duties were divided among four other Apple executives: design SVP Jony Ive assumed leadership of Apple's human interface team; Craig Federighi became the new head of iOS software engineering; services chief Eddy Cue became responsible for Maps and Siri; and Bob Mansfield, previously SVP of hardware engineering, became the head of a new technology group.[35]

Cook with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi

Cook made the executive changes after the third quarter of the fiscal year, when revenues and profits grew less than predicted.[36] Forstall's resignation was widely seen as a dismissal,[37][38] allegedly caused by Cook's desire to reduce "rivalries between executives";[39]^: 127 and drew criticism, as Forstall had been seen as a possible successor to Cook.[40] 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.[41] In May 2016, Cook traveled to China to meet with government officials there after the closure of Apple's online iTunes Store and Apple Books store by the Chinese government.[42]

Cook with Chongqing Mayor Huang in Apple Store Jiefangbei, China, August 17, 2016

In 2016, some analysts compared Cook to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, claiming that innovation had died down since he replaced Jobs, similar to when Ballmer became Microsoft CEO in 2000.[43][44] In December 2017, Cook was a speaker at the World Internet Conference in China.[45][46]

Cook was appointed chairman of the advisory board for Tsinghua University's economics school in October 2019 for a three-year term.[47]

Rep. Tom Malinowski, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and several other lawmakers criticized Cook over Apple's decision to remove an app used by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong from its App Store.[48] They accused Apple of censorship and co-signed a letter to Cook that read, "Apple's decisions last week to accommodate the Chinese government by taking down HKMaps 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."[49] Cook explained in an internal letter why the company removed the Hong Kong mapping app used by protesters to coordinate movements.[50] In 2016, Cook signed a $275 billion deal with Chinese officials.[51] The deal – personally negotiated by Cook – paved the way for increased censorship by Apple in China, for example the removal of Muslim content, preventing users from entering numbers that refer to the date of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, censoring Chinese words like "human rights" or "democracy", and manipulating Apple Maps to support China in the Senkaku Islands dispute by making Chinese-claimed islands appear larger than they actually are.[52][53][54]

In August 2021, Cook received an approximate $750m payout, selling more than five million shares in Apple, after marking ten years in the job.[55][56]

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.[57] 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."[58] Under Cook's leadership, Apple has increased its donations to charity, and in 2013, he hired Lisa Jackson, formerly the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to assist Apple with the development of its renewable energy activities.[59][60][61] Since becoming CEO, Cook has replaced Steve Jobs's micromanagement with a more hands-off style, and implemented a more collaborative culture at Apple.[39]^: 314[38]

Cook with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, April 25, 2018

During the 2008 election cycle, Cook donated to Barack Obama's first White House election.[62]

While it had been reported in early 2011 that Cook was gay,[63][64] at the time, and prior to his October 2014 public statement, Cook chose to keep his personal life private.[65] He did publicly support LGBT rights.[66] In October 2014, the Alabama Academy of Honor inducted Cook, who spoke about his home state's record of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights.[67] The Academy of Honor is the highest honor Alabama gives its citizens.[68]

In 2015, Cook said he donated to Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy for their stances on eBook pricing and surveillance reform, respectively.[69] During the same election cycle, he hosted a fundraiser for Republican Senator Rob Portman.[69]

In early March 2016, Cook disclosed that he donated to the election campaign of Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California. In early June, Cook hosted a private fundraiser along with then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan. The event was described by Politico as "a joint fundraising committee aimed at helping to elect other House Republicans".[69]

In the 2016 election, Cook raised funds for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.[70] At one point, Clinton's campaign considered Cook as a candidate for Vice President.[71]

Cook in 2017

In September 2017 at Bloomberg's Global Business Forum, Cook defended the DACA immigration program. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of Donald Trump's administration, stating: "This is unacceptable. This is not who we are as a country. I am personally shocked that there is even a discussion of this."[72][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."[74]

In a meeting for the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board with President Donald Trump in March 2019, Trump referred to Cook as "Tim Apple".[75] Cook leaned into the slip-up by changing his display name on Twitter to Tim Apple.[76]