Shares of technology companies ticked up as traders continued to chase gains in the sector.
The SPDR Select Sector Technology exchange-traded fund, which tracks the tech sector of the S&P 500, is now up by about 7.6% for the year to date, reversing a significant decline earlier in the year.
Dutch chip-equipment maker ASM International posted strong sales for the first quarter as chip makers continue to invest in tools to make increasingly sophisticated semiconductors in a bid to satisfy booming demand for artificial intelligence.
Apple shares fell after Tim Cook, the longtime leader of the iPhone maker, said he was stepping down, handing the reins to veteran engineer John Ternus.
Shares of HP and Dell Technologies rallied after rumors that Nvidia was weighing a bid for a major personal-computer manufacturer. Nvidia denied the rumors.
Timothy D. Cook is, since the resignation of Steve Jobs August 24, 2011, the CEO of Apple Inc.
Tim Cook grew up in Alabama. His father worked in a shipyard and his mother was a housewife. Graduated in 1982 from Auburn University in Alabama in industrial engineering, he obtained his MBA in 1988 at Duke University in North Carolina, one of the most prestigious American universities.
Tim Cook has worked for 12 years at IBM, where he supervised the production and distribution in North America and Latin America. Then, he joined Compaq and became vice president in charge of the production, the procurement and the inventory management.
Steve Jobs poached himself Tim Cook at Compaq in 1997. Tim Cook joined Apple in March 1998, a year after the return of Steve Jobs at the helm. Under the authority of Steve Jobs, Tim Cook is responsible of the supply chain managing: sales, support, customer services. He works for all markets where the company is present.
Tim Cook puts in place a strategy: the company must reduce its products range and the number of distributors and resellers. Another strategy initiated by Tim Cook: subcontracting in Asia. Tim Cook is the man of the relocation in the company.
In 2000, Tim Cook became director of international sales, and in 2004 he took head of the Macintosh division, which is responsible of MacBook, MacBook Pro and iMac.
Since that day, Mac sales are constantly raising. Tim Cook knows how to sell. These excellent results allow him to evolve in the company. In 2007 Tim Cook became Chief Operating Officer of the company.
In 2004, when Steve Jobs was convalescing after a surgery against a pancreatic cancer, Tim Cook replaced him for two years. In 2009, Steve Jobs takes leave for a liver transplant; Tim Cook is CEO during several months. In January 2011, even if he is on the sick list, Steve Jobs is always CEO but Tim Cook is at the helm of the company daily.
Tim Cook is a brilliant man and very intelligent. Less impulsive than his predecessor, he can seem emotionally detached and implacable. This is a quiet man who does very few public appearances.
Tim Cook is on the Board of Directors of Nike, where he took lessons in marketing in contact with Phil Knight, the founder of Nike.
Apple Inc. specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of computer hardware and music supports. Net sales break down by family of products and services as follows:
- telephone products (50.4%): iPhone brand;
- peripheral devices (8.6%): screens, storage systems, printers, video camera, memory cards, server, switches, etc.;
- computers (8.1%): laptops (MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro brands) and PCs (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro and Xserve);
- music support (6.7%): music readers iPod and iPad and accessories;
- other (26.2%): software, maintenance service and Internet access service, etc.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Americas (42.8%), China/Hong Kong/Taiwan (15.5%), Japan (6.9%), Asia/Pacific (8.1%), and Europe/India/Middle East/Africa (26.7%).
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Investor
Investor
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Global
Global
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Quality
Quality
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ESG MSCI
ESG MSCI
The MSCI ESG score assesses a company’s environmental, social, and governance practices relative to its industry peers. Companies are rated from CCC (laggard) to AAA (leader). This rating helps investors incorporate sustainability risks and opportunities into their investment decisions.
