Apple earlier today filed an 8-K form with the Securities and Exchange Commission, indicating that the board of directors has decided to give restricted stock holders the same $2.65-per-share dividend they expect to give public shareholders. CEO Tim Cook has requested he not be awarded the dividend, however, costing him an estimated $75 million dollars over the next decade.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is on the cover of this week's Fortune Magazine with a story by Inside Apple author Adam Lashinsky profiling the intensely private CEO and noting some of the changes -- some subtle, some not -- introduced by Cook early in his tenure as head of the world's most valuable company. Lashinsky's story posits that in some ways, Apple is becoming a more "traditional" company under Cook.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was the highest-paid CEO of 2011, according to a study released by the Hay Group and the Wall Street Journal. Cook's package for the year was valued at $378 million, although most of it is locked up in the form of stock grants issued after he took control from Steve Jobs in August. The first half of the shares will vest in 2016; the remainder will follow in 2021, contingent on Cook staying with Apple.
Apple CEO Tim Cook would prefer to settle in the numerous lawsuits the company is involved in worldwide, the company's Q2 results call has revealed. During a Q&A session, Cook was asked if there was a point at which Apple would feel it better to settle. "I've always hated litigation and will continue to hate it," the CEO replied. He suggested that he only wants other companies to "make their own stuff," and that he would "highly prefer" to settle instead of fight court battles.
In a conference call following Apple's fiscal Q2 financial disclosures, CEO Tim Cook downplayed talk of declining subsidies for the iPhone. The executive argued that iPhone subsidies are "not large" relative to the sum of service subscriptions spread across a 24-month period, while the iPhone still has a number of "distinct advantages" over competing products.
Apple is holding the conference call for its fiscal second quarter results. The company is expected to talk more about its very high iPhone sales as well as provide context for more modest iPad and Mac results. Check our live coverage page for details from the call as they emerge, starting from 5PM Eastern.
Valve CEO Gabe Newell was asked directly about rumors that placed Tim Cook at the company's headquarters, presumably for a meeting with Newell, but he flatly denied the story and said he has never actually met Cook. Newell dispelled the story in a podcast interview for Seven Day Cooldown. According to Newell, executives at Valve were e-mailing each other asking if any of them were meeting with Cook, but it was just a rumor, reports gaming site Kotaku.
Two Apple-related personalities have made TIME's annual list of the 100 most influential people. Among these is the company's CEO, Tim Cook; the TIME essay on him is written by Al Gore, who has served on Apple's board of directors for about nine years. "It is difficult to imagine a harder challenge than following the legendary Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Yet Tim Cook, a soft-spoken, genuinely humble and quietly intense son of an Alabama shipyard worker and a homemaker, hasn't missed a single beat," Gore writes.
Apple set a pair of firsts Tuesday after AllThingsD confirmed that Apple CEO Tim Cook would be the opening speaker for the D10 conference. It will represent both Cook's first guest spot at the annual Rancho Palos Verdes, California event as well as his first at a third-party event not intended for investors. The opening speaker role is rare in the industry and usually reserved for a highlighted and often extensive conversation.
In all Apple CEO Tim Cook pulled in about $378 million in 2011, even if most of that money won't be available to him for years, according to the New York Times. The bulk, $376.2 million, consisted of a one-time stock grant that won't vest unless Cook stays with Apple for 10 years. In terms of immediate pay, his combined salary, bonuses, and miscellaneous perks during the year amounted to $1.8 million.
Several more people have come forward to say that Apple CEO Tim Cook's office is helping people getting AT&T iPhones unlocked, according to 9to5Mac. A single incident was reported in late March, but 9to5 now says that a "significant number" of its readers have received help from Cook's staff. In particular, it says that "upwards" of six readers have been given exceptions by AT&T Partnership Operations after emailing Cook. The emails from AT&T tell users to tether their iPhones to iTunes to complete the unlocking process.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken the top spot on a Glassdoor list of the 25 most highly-rated CEOs. The site records ratings from anonymous workers, who in this case judged their CEOs regarding a 12-month period ending on March 15th. Over 280,000 people participated; each rating was based on a five-point scale, from "strongly disapprove" up to "strongly approve." Cook won with an overall score of 97 percent.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has toured a new Foxconn production plant for the iPhone, company spokeswoman Carolyn Wu tells Bloomberg. The facility is based in Zhengzhou, China, and is said to employ about 120,000 people. Official photos show Cook and a Chinese entourage passing by some of the workers who manually assemble iPhone parts for up to 60 hours a week or more.
High-level executives from Apple and Samsung have "communicated lately about potential settlement options," according to Bloomberg Businessweek, citing sources familiar with the situation. The magazine has a new cover story called "Apple's War on Android," detailing the lawsuits the company has been pursuing against corporations like Samsung and Motorola. Bloomberg's report of a possible settlement echoes recent rumors though, and could indicate that neither Apple nor Samsung are genuinely willing go to trial.
Three key Apple executives have made about $150 million after selling newly-vested restricted stock, SEC filings show. CEO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and senior worldwide marketing VP Phil Schiller were among several executives granted shares in September 2008 in order to buy their loyalty through 2012. Although the shares were valued at just $105.26 each at the time, the grants were in total worth roughly $122 million.
As a part of his visit to Beijing on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook also met with Guo Jinlong, the mayor of Beijing, a local newspaper reports. The exact details of the encounter are unknown, but it's suggested he talked about expanding markets, and cooperating more closely with Beijing in the future. Yesterday Apple would only say that Cook was in the country to talk with "Chinese officials" about expanding operations in the region; he was nevertheless spotted at the Xidan Joy City Apple Store in Beijing.
Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Chinese government officials on Monday, company spokeswoman Carolyn Wu tells MarketWatch. The executive was reportedly there to discuss expanding Chinese operations, but Wu has refused to elaborate. Cook "had great meetings with Chinese officials today," according to Wu. "China is very important to us and we look forward to even greater investment and growth here."
Apple ahead of its live event call confirmed the plans for its $97.6 billion cash balance. It now intends to start quarterly dividends of $2.65 per share starting with its summer quarter, which starts July 1. Along with the move, it plans to buy back $10 billion in shares over the course of three years, starting with its fiscal 2013 year beginning on September 30.
The co-founder of Path, Dave Morin, was recently called over to Apple headquarters to be "grilled" by CEO Tim Cook and some other company executives, according to Bloomberg. The news agency cites "people familiar with the meeting" as sources. The ultimate outcome of the event is unmentioned in the new report.
Energy and Commerce Committee members GK Butterfield and Henry Waxman sent a letter to Apple Wednesday asking it for more information over ongoing app privacy concerns. The two said that a reply given by Apple on March 2 "does not answer" some of the questions they had asked about what privileges apps have over photos and tracking. Apple was asked to provide representatives who would brief staff on the committee about Apple's efforts.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, sold off the majority of his shares in the company on Monday and cleared $11.1 million after required withholding for tax purposes, according to a form filed with the SEC. Cook exercised options on 37,500 shares and sold 20,178 shares at an average price of just under $550, netting the $11.1 million payday (the balance of the stock was sold at $545.17 for withholding) across two days, Saturday and Monday.
An Italian Apple user who asked Apple CEO Tim Cook if he did not "like" Italy because Siri has yet to add Italian to its list of languages and because Italy wasn't in the group of "first day" launch countries for the iPhone and iPad has received a reply from Cook. In it, he says "I love Italy" and that the company will support Italian in Siri this year, a reiteration of an earlier promise on Apple's website that Siri will add Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Korean this year.
Apple would like to integrate Facebook more deeply into its products, CEO Tim Cook suggested at Apple's annual shareholders meeting today. "Facebook: friend. We do a lot with them, our users use Facebook an enormous amount...I've always thought that the two companies could do more together," Cook commented during the meeting's Q&A session. "We've integrated Twitter...It's been great for Twitter, but it's been great for our users." He also noted that iMessage traffic has been "incredible" so far.
Activist organization SumOfUs is planning to protest supplier working conditions at Apple's annual shareholder meeting, being held today at the company's Cupertino headquarters, according to a press release. Demonstrators will rally outside of the event, while inside, two different actions are planned. SumOfUs says it will first deliver petitions demanding an "ethical iPhone;" during the event's Q&A session, the group says it will ask Apple CEO Tim Cook to end labor abuses in its supply chain.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was briefly listed as an invitee at a National Comprehensive Cancer Network conference, scheduled for March 14th to the 18th, reports note. Cook had been invited to a morning roundtable on the 15th moderated by ABC anchor Sam Donaldson, entitled "Cancer and Corporate America: Business as Usual?" A check of the listings now shows no mention of Cook.
Although notebooks and tablets will continue to co-exist, further convergence of the two is a possibility, says Apple CEO Tim Cook. The comments stem from an interview with the Wall Street Journal, made in the wake of the announcement of OS X Mountain Lion. "We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here [in the iPhone]," Cook comments. "Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac."
Apple CEO Tim Cook updated analysts and investors on Apple's potential for the future, the secrets of its success and dangled the possibility of future dividends, a hot topic on Wall Street. Cook was addressing the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference in San Francisco when he made his remarks, which covered a wide range of topics.
Apple CEO Tim Cook may have hinted at the prospect of an Apple TV set during today's now-concluded talk in front of the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. The executive was asked about the current Apple TV set-top and possibilities such as a full-sized TV. "We don't want to send a message to you or shareholders that the market for it [the Apple TV set-top] is the size of our other businesses...we don't want to send a message that the length of that leg on the stool is the same as the others," he commented.
Apple "takes working conditions very seriously," according to CEO Tim Cook. The executive is currently speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and began his presentation by defending the company's attitude toward suppliers. Critics and activists have brought the company to task for using suppliers that rely on low high wages, extreme hours, questionable safety, and sometimes underage labor.
Apple is likely uninterested in building a MacBook Air with an ARM-based processor, says Citigroup's Richard Gardner. The analyst met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer at the company's Cupertino campus on Thursday, when among other things Cook repeated a view that iOS expansion will eventually result in tablets outselling conventional PCs. "We have wondered whether Apple might offer an ARM-based version of the MacBook Air at some point; we walked away from this meeting with the impression that Apple feels iPad satisfies -- or will soon satisfy -- the needs of those who might have been interested in such a product," writes Gardner in a new memo.
Another topic discussed at Apple's "town hall" meeting last week was the company's charitable contributions, according to sources for The Verge. CEO Tim Cook reportedly stated that Apple had donated $50 million to Stanford's hospitals, split evenly between a new main building and a new children's hospital. The executive also bragged about Apple's position as the largest contributor to (PRODUCT)RED; some proceeds from a small group of Apple products go to the charity, which helps fight AIDS in Africa.
Apple's new retail head, John Browett, was "the best by far" in terms of possible candidates, says company CEO Tim Cook. One blogger, Tony Hart, says he received a personal response from Cook after sending an email with his own thoughts on the hiring. "I talked to many people and John was the best by far," Cook's message reads. "I think you will be as pleased as I am. His role isn't to bring Dixons to Apple, [it's] to bring Apple to an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction."
Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent out a long letter to workers in an attempt to respond to complaints about poor conditions at supplier factories, according to 9to5Mac. "As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values," the letter begins. "Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.
The tease of an Apple town hall meeting has been followed up with apparent confirmation that it was internally focused. CEO Tim Cook was said by 9to5 to have instituted a plan where staff get $500 discounts on Macs and a $250 drop on the price of an iPad. Only the Mac mini would be excluded from the deal, which may well see the systems sold virtually at cost.
An escaped internal e-mail from Apple CEO Tim Cook intercepted at 9to5 has made allusions to possible insights for 2012 plans to staff. Following the iBooks textbook launch and record quarterly results, Cook was holding a company event at the company's Town Hall theater at 10AM Wednesday. Cook and staff would review what Apple had done, but they would also discuss "some exciting new things going on at Apple," he said.
Apple during its fall quarter results revealed IDC data that tablets outsold PCs in the fall. While he didn't provide concrete details, he suggested that the iPad, Android, and other tablet platforms had pushed past the combined Mac and Windows PC markets. IDC's own PC figures showed 18.6 million US computers, making it probable that Apple's 15.4 million plus the smaller share of the rest of the market was enough to push past.
Apple CEO Tim Cook may be about to vastly increase his personal wealth, notes an executive compensation tracking firm, Equilar. Parts of two separate restricted stock unit grants belonging to Cook are vesting in the current quarter. Based on Apple's closing stock price on December 30th, the shares are estimated to be worth about $96.2 million.
New Apple CEO Tim Cook is likely friendlier to corporate customers than his predecessor, Steve Jobs, suggest two former Apple workers quoted by the New York Times. Identified as having operated in business sales, the sources claim that while he was still just COO, Cook met with corporate customers more often and seemed to appreciated their needs, although he stuck with Jobs' position that Apple should focus on consumers rather than businesses. "Tim was always very good with customers," one of the sources says.
Recently appointed Apple CEO Tim Cook is making some, though not fundamental, changes in the approach to management over the late Steve Jobs, insiders disclosed Tuesday. While he's already known to more actively contact staff, the Wall Street Journal sources also understood that he was overseeing tasks common to CEOs but which Jobs had seldom involved himself with, such as corporate reporting and promotions. Cook is described as more "accessible" and, during Jobs' second tenure, was often an advisor on how to approach the co-founder on a given subject.
Apple late Sunday posted a live stream for its Celebrating Steve event online. Previously a company-only event that led it to close stores on October 19, the 80-minute presentation was headed up by CEO Tim Cook on Apple's campus. It also includes guest presentations from Al Gore, Jonathan Ive, and others closely attached to the company.
Samsung COO Lee Jae-yong's visit to Steve Jobs' memorial led to the rumored talks with Apple, the Korean executive said Wednesday. Along with a deal through at least 2012, he and Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed deals for 2013 and 2014 for "even better parts," he told the Korea Herald. The two-hour talk touched on their earlier history as well as improving relations between the two in the future.
Apple has posted a photograph from today's remembrance of the company's co-founder, Steve Jobs, showing CEO Tim Cook addressing a large assembly of Apple employees at the company's main Cupertino campus. The title of the photograph refers to the gathering as a "celebration of Steve Jobs' life" and features large banners of the iconic chairman and former CEO of the company at various stages of his career.
Former Apple CEO and chairman Steve Jobs was doing work for the company on the day before his death, an interview with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son reveals. "I visited Apple [headquarters] for the announcement of the iPhone 4S," says Son. "When I was having a meeting with [Apple CEO] Tim Cook, he said, 'Oh Masa, sorry I have to quit our meeting.' I said, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'My boss is calling me.' That was the day of the announcement of the iPhone 4S. He said that Steve is calling me because he wants to talk about their next product. And the next day, he died."
(Updated to downplay Baez's role) A partial list of the people present at Sunday's private memorial for Steve Jobs has been published, says Fortune. Among the people there were Apple executives Tim Cook (CEO) and Scott Forstall (senior VP for iOS), and board members Bill Campbell and Al Gore. Former US President Bill Clinton was also in attendance; one of the people most closely connected to Jobs, though, may have been singer Joan Baez, who once dated him during the late 1970s and early '80s.
The workers in Apple's US corporate division are getting the entire week of Thanksgiving off, an internal memo from CEO Tim Cook states. "Team, I consider it an honor to come to work every day alongside the most innovative and most dedicated people on earth," the email begins. "This is an extraordinary time to be at Apple, and it's all made possible by your incredible efforts.
Apple's senior VP for iOS, Scott Forstall, was indirectly responsible for the leak of an iPhone 4 prototype in 2010, a new Businessweek profile suggests. A former Apple manager claims that Forstall persuaded the company's CEO at the time, Steve Jobs, to allow dozens of engineers to carry prototypes so they could do better testing of network performance and reduce dropped calls. It was one of Forstall's engineers who accidentally left an iPhone 4 in a pub, which eventually resulted in a Gizmodo hands-on piece and a high-profile criminal investigation.
Apple will hold an internal memorial ceremony for Steve Jobs on October 19th, according to a memo from CEO Tim Cook. "Team," the email begins. "Like many of you, I have experienced the saddest days of my lifetime and shed many tears during the past week. But I've found some comfort in the extraordinary number of tributes and condolences from people all over the world who were touched by Steve and his genius. And I've found comfort in both telling and listening to stories about Steve.
Apple's co-creator, the late Steve Jobs, will be buried Friday, sources mentioned the same day. His ceremony was cast by the WSJ as a "small private gathering" focused on friends and family. The location wasn't being given out as a matter of respect for the Jobs family's privacy.
Early analyst opinion is maintaining a generally favorable view of Apple's prospects in the wake of Steve Jobs' death. "It is the culture of innovation, thinking different, risk taking, and execution that will live on," says Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu. "In our view, the challenge and opportunity for AAPL is to maintain this culture. The good news is that Steve has put a strong team in place to execute with Tim Cook, Jonathan Ive, Eddy Cue, Scott Forstall, Phil Schiller, Peter Oppenheimer, Bob Mansfield, to name a few."
Apple CEO Tim Cook in the aftermath of the death of Steve Jobs issued a company-wide letter in eulogy. The executive had nothing but praise for Jobs, who brought him into the company roughly 13 years ago. A special memorial would take place in the near future and would take condolences from Apple staff.
