Coffee with Apple CEO at $600,000

Apple CEO Tim Cook  donated a coffee date with himself at the Apple campus to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Spring 2013 Auction, and bidding has already reached more than a half a million dollars. As of April 26, 2013, coffee with Cook was at $605,000, with 86 bids so far.

This is the sixth year of the RFK Spring Auction. The proceeds go to the organization, which supports human rights advocacy around the world. According to the organization, previous annual auctions have raised more than $3.5 million for human rights work. In addition to Cook's coffee date, a lunch date with Francis Ford Coppola and a tour of the SpaceX Center with Elon Musk are being offered through charitybuzz.com.

Starting on Aug. 24 2011, Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Before that he was the COO at the company. Bidding ends on May 14, 2013. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook received stock award worth $376 million

Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook received a one-time stock award worth nearly $400 million, the largest given by a company in a decade.

The company's board granted Cook 1 million restricted stock units (RSUs) to signal its confidence in Cook after Steve Jobs turned over the helm of the iPhone and iPad maker to his long-time lieutenant in August.

The stock award, half of which vests in 2016 and the remaining half in 2021, was worth more than $376 million, based on the closing price of Apple's shares on August 24, 2011.

"As far as a singular award, we haven't seen anything this large in a long time," said Aaron Boyd, head of research at Equilar, an executive compensation data firm.

The only one-time stock award in recent memory that was worth more, said Boyd, was the January 2000 stock option package that Apple gave co-founder Steve Jobs. The 40 million options in that award were valued at more than $600 million at the time, Boyd said.

Jobs, who was ousted from Apple in the mid-1980s, returned to the company in 1997 and went on to transform Apple into the world's most valuable technology company with a string of hit products including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Jobs, who died in October after a years-long battle with cancer, owned 5.5 million shares of Apple.

Jobs received $1 a year in salary during the past three years, according to the filing, while Cook received a salary of about $900,000 in 2011.

Apple said Cook's award was a retention and promotion tool, as well as recognition for running the company during Jobs' previous medical leaves of absence.

"The Board views his retention as CEO as critical to the Company's success and smooth leadership transition. The RSU award is intended as a long-term retention incentive," Apple said in its statement.

Apple to announce iPhone 5 on October 4

Apple's new CEO, Tim Cook, will hold a big media event Oct. 4 to announce the iPhone 5, reports All Things Digital, citing sources familiar with the matter.

If true, the launch date of the next generation iPhone is consistent with the recent wave of rumors claiming it will be released in early October.

Sources say that Cook will preside over the announcement - with the help of other key executives such as Phil Schiller, who participated in such events in the past - which would give this event even more significance. Cook must convince the shareholders, the audience and Apple fans all over the world that he can sure-handedly take over the role of Apple CEO and company showman. And the expectations for that particular job are enormous, for sure.

It is not known whether Steve Jobs, who resigned from the role of Apple CEO in August, will be present at the event.

The newest iPhone will reportedly be available in the few weeks following the announcements.

Apple gives Tim Cook 1 million shares

Apple has given Tim Cook 1 million shares of restricted stock as he takes over as reins of the company from Steve Jobs. At current prices, the stock package is worth more than $383 million.

Cook assumed CEO duties this week when Jobs stepped aside after 14 years, saying he was no longer able to do the job.

Cook won't immediately have access to the stock. Half of the award vests over five years, and the other half five years after that. So the full value won't be known for years.

But it has the potential to be even more rewarding if certain expectations of Apple Inc. come true.

Some analysts forecast Apple's stock, which closed Friday at $383.58, could hit $500 or more per share within the next year.

Steve Jobs resigning as Apple CEO, to be replaced by Tim Cook

Steve Jobs, the mind behind the iPhone, iPad and other devices that turned Apple Inc. into one of the world's most powerful companies, resigned as CEO, saying he can no longer handle the job but will continue to play a role in leading the company.

The move appears to be the result of an unspecified medical condition for which he took an indefinite leave from his post in January. Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, has been named CEO.

In a letter addressed to Apple's board and the "Apple community," Jobs said he "always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

The company said Jobs gave the board his resignation Wednesday and suggested Cook be named the company's new leader. Apple said Jobs was elected board chairman and Cook is becoming a member of its board.

Jobs' health has long been a concern for Apple investors who see him as an industry oracle who seems to know what consumers want long before they do.

Jeff Gamet, managing editor of The Mac Observer online news site focused on Apple, said Jobs' departure has more sentimental than practical significance, and that he has been telegraphing the change for several years.

Earlier this month Apple became the most valuable company in America, briefly surpassing Exxon Mobil. At the market close Wednesday its market value was $349 billion, just behind Exxon Mobil's $358 billion.

Jobs' hits seemed to grow bigger as the years went on: After the colorful iMac computer and the now-ubiquitous iPod, the iPhone redefined the category of smart phones and the iPad all but created the market for tablet computers.

His own aura seemed part of the attraction. On stage at trade shows and company events in his uniform of jeans, sneakers and black mock-turtlenecks, he'd entrance audiences with new devices, new colors, new software features, building up to a grand finale he'd predictably preface by saying, "One more thing."

Jobs (56), shepherded Apple from a two-man startup to Silicon Valley darling when the Apple II, the first computer for regular people to really catch on, sent IBM Corp. and others scrambling to get their own PCs to market.

After Apple suffered a slump in the mid-1980s, he was forced out of the company. He was CEO at Next, another computer company, and Pixar, the computer-animation company that produced "Toy Story" on his watch, during the 10 years before he returned.

Apple was foundering before he returned, having lost $900 million in 1996 as Microsoft Windows-based PCs dominated the computer market. The company's fortunes began to turn around with its first new product under his direction, the iMac, which launched in 1998 and sold about 2 million in its first 12 months.

Apple's popularity grew in the U.S. throughout the 2000s as the ever-sleeker line of iPods introduced many lifelong Windows users to their first Apple gadget. Apple created another sensation in 2007 with the iPhone, the stark-looking but powerful smart phone that quickly dominated the industry.

The iPad was introduced less than a year and a half ago but has already sold nearly 29 million units as it inspired myriad rivals in a tablet computer market that scarcely existed before Apple stepped in.

As Jobs was praised for his vision, concerns about his health persisted. The January leave was Jobs' third medical leave over several years. He had previously survived pancreatic cancer and received a liver transplant.