Apple CEO Tim Cook has officially joined the billionaire club as the tech firm's stock is hovering near a record $2-trillion valuation—a stock market milestone. As per the latest Bloomberg Billionaires list, his net worth has eclipsed $1 billion as Apple's share price rose almost 5 per cent last week.
Cook's billionaire status is based on the shares he owns and the compensation he has been paid at Apple. In 2015, he said he planned to give most of his fortune away and has already donated millions of dollars worth of Apple shares.
Cook makes an interesting case because it is unusual for a non-founder CEO to become a billionaire. But Cook has arguably built Apple into the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, beating out Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company just this July.
Cook has more than doubled the valuation of Apple in about nine years. When Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, Apple was valued at about $350 billion. Now, Apple is just inches away from becoming the first company to be valued at $2 trillion. Two years ago it became the first company to be valued at $1 trillion.
Cook has been credited for rebuilding Apple's supply chain using “just-in-time” manufacturing principles, like reducing inventory, after Steve Jobs hired him away from Compaq to be Apple’s COO. According to industry watchers, Cook has taken a more measured, cautious approach than his predecessor, but Apple’s revenue and profit have both more than doubled since he became CEO.
Technology companies including Apple, Facebook and Amazon have seen their profits grow during the coronavirus pandemic as more people went online.