It's kind of rare to see someone that isn't a co-founder of a publicly traded company, and employed with a working career in a company like anyone else, can become a billionaire.
But Apple's CEO Tim Cook has proven that it's possible for him, after 22 years joining Apple for the first time, and 9 years after becoming the CEO of the company following Steve Jobs' death.
Cook moved into the billionaire club as Apple's share price continues to soar.
Since 2011 when he took over Apple, to 2020, Cook doubled the company’s revenue and profit.
Cook managed to increase the company's market value from $348 billion to past $1 trillion, to then past $1.5 trillion, and then closing in on the $2 trillion milestone after beating Saudi's oil Aramco.
With the Cupertino-based company seeing strong results, Cook also benefits since he owns 847,969 Apple shares (0.02% of Apple, worth around $375 million).
With paid out annual increments, Cook’s net worth was estimated based on an analysis of regulatory filings and applying the market performance of a typical wealthy investor to his proceeds from share sales.
So with proceeds from previous share sales, dividends and other compensation, add that number with $650 million to come up with his net worth, according to calculations by Bloomberg.
With that, Cook's $1 billion net worth made him join the elite club for CEOs who didn’t actually found the companies they run.
It should be noted that Cook's stake in Apple is very small if compared to CEOs that are also founders, like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
At Apple, shares are distributed widely among different investors and executives, meaning that the company has only minted very few billionaires among its employees.
Since Jobs stepped down in August 2011 and died soon after, Cook had already filled in as interim CEO on several occasions. After Jobs passed away, investors and analysts were concerned that Apple wouldn’t be able to innovate as much as it did in the past.
Those speculations were true, partly because Apple hasn't revealed any groundbreaking product as large as the iPhone or the iPod.
But Cook however, has overseen the development of devices like the iPhone X and Apple Watch, services like Apple Music, and research for more ambitious projects, like self-driving cars and augmented-reality glasses.
In other words, Apple expanded, and continued thriving since Cook took over the reins.
It should also be noted that tech companies, including Apple, Facebook and Amazon, have seen their profits grow during the 'COVID-19' coronavirus pandemic where people go online more than ever before. Apple and other big tech companies profited as people have gotten even more reliant on the internet, their products and their services.