Tim Cook’s extraordinary career in 4 charts

By David Goldman, CNN

(CNN) — From his start at Apple, Tim Cook was a numbers guy.

Shortly after Steve Jobs returned to Apple (AAPL) in the late 1990s to rescue the company he had founded, he hired Cook from Compaq to run Apple’s supply chain and operations. Jobs was in charge of the flashy stuff like the new, colorful iMac. Cook needed to make sure Apple could get all the parts it needed. You know – the boring stuff.

As CEO – a job Cook has held for nearly 15 years – Cook has been criticized for lacking Jobs’ flair and ability to promote groundbreaking innovation.

But numbers don’t lie. And the sales, profit and market value Cook was able to achieve for Apple during his tenure were unparalleled.

By the time Cook took over at Apple, the company was already generating about half of its $108 billion in annual sales from the iPhone. Under Cook, Apple created two new categories – services and wearables – which last year brought in a combined $145 billion in sales, a large chunk of Apple’s total revenue of $416 billion.

Cook has more than quadrupled Apple’s profit during his tenure, setting all-time records for any public company along the way. The introduction of services, including Apple TV+ and Apple Pay, has boosted the company’s profit considerably over the past several years.

The S&P 500 has gained 504% since the day Tim Cook took over. Apple’s gain has been more than triple that.

Apple became the first $1 trillion company in 2018. It is now worth $4 trillion, and it’s the second-most valuable company on the US stock market, behind only chipmaker Nvidia.

Cook’s career has been impressive by any measure – even President Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted on Truth Social that he was “very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling” during his first term for help with an unspecified concern.

“Tim Cook had an AMAZING career, almost incomparable, and will go on and continue to do great work for Apple, and whatever else he chooses to work on,” Trump said. “Quite simply, Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!!”

The-CNN-Wire
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