Apple CEO’s Fortune Destined For Charity

Tim Cook could reach billionaire status by the time he dies, but his wealth will be charity’s wealth after that.

The Apple chief executive tells Fortune magazine that, after providing for his nephew’s college education, he plans to donate his fortune to philanthropic causes.

Cook is unmarried and has no children.

Currently, his net worth is around $120 million, based on his holdings of Apple stock, and he holds restricted stock worth $665 million if it were to be fully vested, according to Fortune.

Cook’s decision to voice his plans for his wealth is hardly the first glimmer of his generosity, however.

Earlier this month he made headlines when it came out that he had offered a piece of his liver to his predecessor, Steve Jobs, who turned it down.

The now openly gay Fortune 500 CEO was even thinking of others when he came out last year, as he told Fortune:

“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 says. “There’s no joy in me putting my life in view.”

Cook is also more open to sharing the limelight with other Apple employees than Jobs was, Fortune reports:

Whereas Jobs severely restricted interactions between all his employees and the press, Cook has ushered in a period of glasnost with the news media. It is highly unlikely that Jobs would have tolerated, for example, The New Yorker’s recent 16,000-word profile of Jony Ive, Apple’s chief designer. Cook says such exposure is part of his plan.

“My objective is to raise the public profile of several of the folks on the executive team, and others as well. Because I think that’s good for Apple at the end of the day.”

Cook is not alone in his generosity, though. The Washington Post reports that his plans to give away his wealth places him among billionaires like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and famed investor Warren Buffett.

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