Tim Cook

Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc. from 2011 to 2026, and has been the company's executive chairman since September 2026. Cook joined the technology company in 1998 as senior vice president for worldwide operations, and later served as vice president for worldwide sales and operations and then as chief operating officer under co-founder Steve Jobs. He was appointed chief executive in 2011, when Jobs resigned due to failing health. Under Cook, Apple grew into one of the world's most valuable companies; in 2025 it was the second largest technology company by revenue in the world, at US$416 billion. Cook led a succession plan that saw John Ternus succeed him as CEO.

During his tenure as the chief executive of Apple and service on its board of directors, he has advocated for the political reform of international and domestic surveillance, cybersecurity, national manufacturing, and environmental preservation. Since becoming CEO, Cook has also replaced Jobs' micromanagement with a more liberal style and implemented a collaborative culture at Apple.

Considered one of the most successful tech CEOs of the modern era, Cook diversified Apple’s product lineup, overseeing the introduction of many new products such as the AirPods, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, AirTag, Apple silicon in its Mac lineup and expanding its services business. This propelled Apple’s growth, with Cook doubling the company's revenue and profit from 2011, when he took over, to 2020, and with an increase in the company's market value from $348 billion in 2011 to over $4 trillion in 2026.

Outside of Apple, Cook has sat on the board of directors of Nike since 2005. He also sits on the board of the National Football Foundation and is a trustee of Duke University, his alma mater. Cook engages in philanthropy; in March 2015, he said he planned to donate his fortune to charity. In 2014, Cook became the first and only chief executive of a Fortune 500 company to publicly come out as gay. In October 2014, the Alabama Academy of Honor inducted Cook, who spoke on the state's record of LGBTQ rights. It is the highest honor Alabama gives its citizens. In 2012 and 2021, Cook appeared on the Time 100, Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. As of August 2026, his net worth is estimated at $3 billion, according to Forbes.

Timothy Donald Cook was born on November 1, 1960, in the city of Mobile, Alabama. He was baptized in a Baptist church and grew up in the nearby city Robertsdale. His father, Donald Cook, was a shipyard worker. His mother, Geraldine Cook, worked at a pharmacy. Cook graduated salutatorian from the public Robertsdale High School in Alabama in 1978.

Cook received a Bachelor of Science with a major in industrial engineering from Auburn University in 1982 and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University in 1988.

After graduating from Auburn University, Cook spent twelve years in IBM's personal computer business, ultimately as director of North American fulfillment. During this time, Cook also earned his MBA from Duke University, becoming a Fuqua Scholar in 1988. Later, he was the chief operating officer of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics. In 1997, he became the vice president for corporate materials at Compaq, but took up his position at Apple six months later.

In 1998, Steve Jobs asked Cook to join Apple. In a 2010 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.

His first position was senior vice president for worldwide operations. 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". Cook's actions were recognized for keeping costs under control, and combined with the rest of the company, generated huge profits.

In January 2007, 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.

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

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.

In 2015, Cook said he donated to Democratic senators Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy for their stances on ebook pricing and surveillance reform, respectively. During the same election cycle, he hosted a fundraiser for Republican senator Rob Portman. In early March 2016, Cook disclosed that he donated to the election campaign of Democratic representative 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."

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

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."

Cook is a fitness 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". Cook was misdiagnosed with multiple 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 the Auburn alumni magazine that his symptoms came from "lugging a lot of incredibly heavy luggage around".

Cook has said that in 2009 he offered a portion of his liver 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." While delivering the 2010 commencement speech at Auburn, Cook emphasized the importance of intuition during significant decision-making processes, and explained that preparation and hard work are also necessary to execute on intuition. In 2015, Cook was named to Duke University's board of trustees for a six-year term. He later delivered the university's commencement address in 2018.

Financial Times Person of the Year (2014)

Alabama Academy of Honor: Inductee (2015)

Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award (2015)

Honorary Doctor of Science from University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland (2017)

Courage Against Hate award from Anti-Defamation League (2018)