Tim Cook says 'hello Vietnam', drinks egg coffee, and munches on sunflower seeds.
After Vietnam, which Southeast Asian country will Tim Cook visit next?
Apple CEO Tim Cook will be visiting Vietnam to speak with students and innovators.
Tim Cook is currently in Vietnam and has immediately attracted the attention of the technology community in particular and the business community in general. He is the CEO of Apple, the world's second-largest technology company by market capitalization. As of April 15th, Apple's market capitalization was approximately $2.73 trillion, while Tim Cook's net worth was estimated at $2.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Tim Cook was included in Steve Jobs' succession plan before his death. The late Apple CEO groomed his successor from 2003 to 2011. The two were also close friends. Tim Cook himself temporarily took over the leadership of Apple twice, in 2004 and 2009, when he oversaw the launch of the iPad 2 and iCloud.
Since officially taking over as Apple CEO, Tim Cook has transformed the company into a trillion-dollar giant, with its stock increasing by over 1,000% during his tenure. While Jobs is considered a visionary, Tim Cook is renowned for driving high profit margins and creating a complex global supply chain. Compared to his predecessor, he doesn't have many groundbreaking or iconic products. If Jobs was the "architect" behind the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes, Tim Cook's most notable contribution is the Apple Watch, launched in 2014.
Perhaps Tim Cook's greatest achievement should be quantified in numbers. When he decided to switch to the M1 processor instead of Intel chips in 2020, Apple's PC sales skyrocketed by over 70%. More importantly, the M1 processor offered longer battery life and better power efficiency.
The person chosen by Steve Jobs
Tim Cook was born in Alabama, USA, on November 1, 1960. His father was a shipyard worker, and his mother worked at a pharmacy. After graduating with a degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University, Tim Cook earned an MBA from Duke University in 1988. He worked for IBM for 12 years, managing manufacturing and distribution operations in North America and Latin America before moving to Compaq, the world's largest computer company at the time.
After numerous attempts by Apple recruiters to approach him, Tim Cook agreed to meet Steve Jobs. At the time, Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, with dismal revenue and a net loss of $1 billion. Despite this, he was immediately impressed by the company's vision and strategy. After six months at Compaq, he joined Apple with a base salary of $400,000 and a bonus of $500,000. He said he was called a fool for his decision to leave Compaq for Apple.
At age 37, Tim Cook joined Apple as Vice President of Global Operations. Within a year, Apple had achieved a profit of $309 million and launched the elegantly designed iMac. He revolutionized production, adopting the Just-In-Times (JIT) concept used by Intel. JIT reduces inventory and allows new products to reach the market more quickly.
In the mid-2000s, when Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he prepared Tim Cook to be his successor. In August 2011, Jobs stepped down as Apple CEO after 14 years. In his first memo to employees as CEO, Tim Cook wrote: "Joining Apple was the best decision I ever made; working for Apple and Steve for over 13 years has been the privilege of a lifetime." At that time, Apple's market capitalization was less than $400 billion.
Under Cook's leadership, Apple acquired more than 100 companies, developed a studio, and expanded its hardware offerings. Additionally, the company built a rich portfolio of services, spanning iCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Music, launched in 2011, 2012, and 2015, respectively. In 2018, it became the first trillion-dollar company and reached a valuation of $2 trillion just two years later.
Regarding his personal life, in 2014, Tim Cook became the first CEO on the Fortune 500 list to publicly come out as gay. At the 2021 Time100 conference, the Apple CEO stated that he did so to help young people, especially the LGBTQ community, even though it meant sacrificing his privacy.
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![[Video] Sunset at Lap An Lagoon – Where the sun sets over the fishing nets](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2026/05/31/1780192137701_beach-landscape-sea-water-nature-grass-745871-pxhere-com.jpeg)
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