Tim Cook 'says hello to Vietnam', drinks egg coffee, bites sunflower seeds

Tim Cook 'says hello to Vietnam', drinks egg coffee, bites sunflower seeds

On April 15, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted his first photo since arriving in Vietnam. He met singers My Linh and My Anh and enjoyed egg coffee.
After Vietnam, which Southeast Asian country did Tim Cook visit?

After Vietnam, which Southeast Asian country did Tim Cook visit?

According to TechInAsia news site, Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to arrive in Indonesia around April 20.
Apple CEO Tim Cook comes to Vietnam to talk to students and innovators

Apple CEO Tim Cook comes to Vietnam to talk to students and innovators

As soon as he set foot in Vietnam, Apple CEO Tim Cook praised, “There is no place like Vietnam, a vibrant and beautiful country.”

Tim Cook is 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 15, Apple's market capitalization was about 2.73 trillion USD, while Tim Cook's net worth was estimated at 2.1 billion USD, 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 confidants. Tim Cook himself took temporary control of Apple twice, in 2004 and 2009, when he oversaw the launch of the iPad 2 and iCloud.

Since officially taking over as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook has turned the “bitten apple” into a trillion-dollar giant, with its stock price increasing by more than 1,000% during his tenure. While Jobs is considered a visionary, Tim Cook is known for driving high profit margins and creating a complex global supply chain. Compared to his predecessor, he does not have many groundbreaking and iconic products. While Jobs is 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 is in numbers. When he decided to switch to M1 instead of Intel chips in 2020, Apple’s computer revenue jumped more than 70%. More importantly, the M1 processor allows for longer battery life and is more energy efficient.

The man 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 in a pharmacy. After graduating with a degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University, Tim Cook received 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.

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Tim Cook (left) and Steve Jobs at an Apple press conference in 2007. Photo: WSJ

After several attempts by Apple recruiters to reach out, Tim Cook agreed to meet Steve Jobs. At the time, Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy, with dismal sales and a net loss of $1 billion. However, he was immediately impressed with the company's vision and strategy. After six months at Compaq, he joined Apple with a base salary of $400,000 and a $500,000 bonus. He said he was called a fool for deciding to leave Compaq for Apple.

At age 37, Tim Cook joined Apple as Vice President of Worldwide Operations. Within a year, the “bitten apple” had made a profit of $ 309 million and launched the beautiful iMac model. He changed the production here, applying the Just In Time concept (right product – right quantity – right place – right time) used by Intel. JIT reduces inventory and allows new products to be launched to the market faster.

In the mid-2000s, when Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he groomed Tim Cook as his successor. In August 2011, Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple 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 the time, Apple's market capitalization was less than $400 billion.

Under Cook’s leadership, Apple has acquired more than 100 companies, developed a studio, and expanded its hardware. In addition, the company has built a rich portfolio of services, spanning iCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Music, which launched in 2011, 2012, and 2015, respectively. In 2018, it became the first trillion-dollar company and reached a value of $2 trillion just two years later.

In his personal life, in 2014, Tim Cook became the first CEO in the Fortune 500 list to come out as gay. At the 2021 Time100 conference, the Apple CEO said he did so because he wanted to help young people, especially the LGBTQ community, even though it meant losing his privacy.