Some of the interesting things about Apple CEO - Tim Cook

Timothy Donald "Tim Cook" Born in Alabama on November 1, 1960. Tim Cook graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1982, and went on to earn an M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in the late 80s. Following a 12-year career at IBM, in 1994, Cook became a chief operating officer (Reseller Division) at Intelligent Electronics.

He then worked for Compaq as vice president of corporate materials, procuring and managing product inventory. n August 2011, Cook first joined Apple in 1998 after being recruited by Jobs. At Apple, Cook started out as senior vice president of worldwide operating. He served as interim CEO during in 2009 while Steve. In January 2007, Cook became chief operating officer of Apple. He served as interim CEO in 2004 and 2009 when Jobs took medical leave. Cook was named Apple's new CEO, taking over the position for former CEO and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011 after a years-long battle with cancer.

In 2014, Cook became the first Chief Executive of a Fortune 500 company to publicly identify as gay.Cook also serves on the boards of directors of Nike, Inc.and the National Football Foundation. In early 2012, he was awarded compensation of one million shares, vesting in 2016 and 2021, by Apple's board of directors, and in March 2015, he said he planned to donate his entire stock fortune to charity.

Following this in June 2014, at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Cook announced the latest version of the Apple operating system for desktop and mobile, OSX Yosemite. In September of the same year, Cook unveiled the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which have larger screen sizes and come with new features such Apple Pay and �Burst Selfies.� He also announced the first new product under his reign, a wearable device to track fitness and health, the �Apple Watch,� which will be available for purchase in 2015.

Cook also wrote that he is inspired by these words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: �Life�s most persistent and urgent question is, �What are you doing for others?� He explained that his decision to put his personal privacy aside and make his sexual orientation public was an important step in advocating for human rights and equality for all. 

Interesting fact: Cook is known for regularly sending emails at 4.30am and has previously held staff meetings via phone on Sunday evenings to prepare for the week ahead. He is also massively into fitness and likes visiting the gym in addition to cycling and hiking. 

Tim Cook is the man behind the company with the world's largest market capitalization (more than $610 billion as of December 2016) and the most profitable business in America--Apple brought in more than $9 billion in net income in its recent quarter. He's a hugely influential player in technology, design, publishing, and entertainment. But 2016 presented some new challenges. In the spring Apple's revenue declined for the first time in 13 years; many fear that the iPhone, which makes up about 60% of the tech company's sales, has peaked. In September, the company announced that it removed the headphone jack out of its newest handset, a move that received mixed reviews.