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Apple CEO Tim Cook has joined the billionaire club as the tech company’s share price continues to rise.
Apple’s market value is rising after strong results and the upbeat outlook for tech giants.
Mr Cook owns 847,969 shares directly and took home more than $ 125 million (£ 96 million) last year as part of his payment package.
Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg saw his personal wealth hit $ 100 billion (£ 76bn).
Technology companies including Apple, Facebook and Amazon have seen their profits grow during the coronavirus pandemic as more people went online.
Apple-based Silicon Valley is now closing the milestone of being the first company to be valued at $ 2tn. Two years ago, it became the first company to be valued at $ 1tn.
Mr Cook took over from Apple founder Steve Jobs nine years ago. His billionaire status is based on the shares he has and the compensation he has been paid by Apple, and calculated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In 2015, he said he planned to give away most of his fortune and had already donated millions of dollars to Apple shares.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg has made a similar commitment to give away the majority of its shares.
Mr. Zuckerberg, along with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk, have amassed their wealth from the enormous strikes in the companies they founded.
In comparison, Mr Cook’s stake in Apple’s miniscule is around 0.02%.
Based on U.S. federal and state taxes for California, Mr. Cook would have a tax rate of just over 50%, as top rent.
Watches and music
Although Apple has not unveiled new products as groundbreaking as its iPhone, the company has continued to thrive since Mr Cook took over the giant.
He oversees the development of devices such as the iPhone X and Apple Watch, along with new services such as Apple Music.
