Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is close to being a billionaire, says he will pay for his 10-year old nephew’s college education, then donate the rest of his wealth to philanthropic projects.
In a surprisingly candid and heartfelt interview with Fortune, the CEO touched upon topics as diverse as Apple’s future after him, to his own sexuality, describing it as a “yawner”.
Cook certainly has plenty to give away. Fortune estimated that Cook holds $120m worth of Apple shares and a further $665m of restricted stocks, apart from his base salary of $1.75 million. Since becoming Apple CEO in 2011, Cook has differed from his predecessor, Steve Jobs, on charitable giving. Jobs was not known for philanthropy and had even said he opposed giving away money. Cook, on the other hand, gives his employees hefty discounts on Apple products and also instituted a companywide charitable program that matches donations made by employees up to $10,000 a year. Cook also donated $50 million to Stanford’s hospitals and another $50 million to disease prevention charity Product RED in 2012.
Cook isn’t the first top executive to give his money away in such a charitable manner. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates launched The Giving Pledge in 2010 — a campaign to persuade billionaires to give at least half of their fortunes to charity. More than a hundred have signed up so far, including Michael Bloomberg and Mark Zuckerberg.
But, much like the company he heads, Cook wants to do it different (ly). Although he did not specify which causes he would support, he said he had already begun donating money quietly. He added that he would develop a systematic approach to philanthropy, rather than just writing cheques.
Cook also spoke about his decision to come out as gay last year – making him by far the most influential gay business executive as head of the world’s most valuable company. He said he made the decision to come out “quite some time ago” and that his announcement was viewed internally at Apple – where most people already knew he was gay – as a “yawner”.
However, Cook said making his sexuality public knowledge was difficult because he is a very private and guarded about his personal life. “To be honest, if I would not have come to the conclusion that it would likely help other people, I would have never done it,” he said. “There’s no joy in me putting my life in view.”