Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple Inc, has finally joined the list of billionaires courtesy of the tech giant's new milestone: inching closer to the vaunted $2 trillion mark.
Based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Cook's net value is now more than $1 billion. For over nine years, Cook has been Apple's top honcho, following the exit of Steve Jobs, who founded the company 44 years ago.
Apple's share price increased nearly 5 percent last week and closed at $450.91 on Monday. The stock has been up 123 percent in the last four quarters. The company -whose reputation has been built around the success of iPhones and iMacs - had a market price tag of $350 billion when Jobs passed on.
The company reached the $1 trillion milestone in 2018, but the figure has since ballooned. Apple did not comment on news about Cook's new billionaire status, Bloomberg said. Cook has stated before, though, that he would be donating a huge chunk of his money to philanthropy.
As of August 10, Cook owns 847,970 shares valued at roughly $375 million. His earnings from previous share distributions, sales, and other payments add $650 million more to his wallet.
Apple Inc looks destined to rise higher. In fact, one analyst estimates that Apple stock will soar another 16 percent in the next 12 to 18 months, pushing its market value to $2.2 trillion. But the projection is even more head-shaking - Apple might even be valued at over $2.56 trillion in the next few months.
The majority of Cook's fortune has been derived from equity awards that he has been granted he joined Apple in 1998, Bloomberg said. Cook received a huge sum of restricted stocks when he was appointed to the company's top spot in 2011. He has been enjoying increments every year from the equity since then.
Meanwhile, Cook's wealth and the tech conglomerate's net worth come as the CEO and his elite "Big Tech" counterparts - Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet's Sundar Pichai - face antitrust scrutiny for wielding their influence to dominate the market, accumulate information, clients and earn huge cash.
