Coffee with Apple’s Tim Cook now at $500,000

IT World Canada Staff

12 years ago

That latte better come with a free iPhone 6.

The charity auction featuring some coffee with Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook is now at $500,000. No need to rush to put in your bid though, there’s still about 14 days left before the auction run by CharityBuzz, an online auction site which raises funds for non-profit organizations around the globe by offering up for bid luxury items and face time with celebrities, ends.

Proceeds of the auction will go to the RFK Centre for Justice and Human Rights. The centre was founded in 1968 in memory of slain U.S. Democratic Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Robert. The RFK’s core programs focus on helping human rights groups around the world.

If slumping iPhone sales is casting a shadow on Cook’s leadership at Apple, you wouldn’t know from the bids he is currently pulling in.

Bidding started at around 11 am this Wednesday with a certain Lee111 bidding $5,000 was quickly topped three hours later by a $6,000 bid from ddorato. Since then bids have been piling up and as of early Friday morning a certain Alavosa was winning with his $500,000 bid for the coffee break which CharityBuzz originally estimated to be valued at $50,000.

Bragging rights to having coffee with Cook does come with some heavy stipulations, for instance you pretty much can’t brag about.

“The winner cannot blog, social network, talk to press write about, take pictures or record during the experience in any way,” according to CharityBuzz’s legal terms.

Winners also have to savour every minute because the “experience” lasts “30 minutes to an hour.”

Cook took the helm of Apple in August 2011 after co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down due to health reasons. Cook is considered an accomplished executive but lacking in the vision and charisma Apple fans associate with Jobs.

Apple’s net profit dropped during the second quarter of 2013 as the company’s iPhone shipment growth slowed down.

The company recorded a profit of $9.5 billion for the second quarter ending on March 30, falling from the $11.6 billion profit reported in the same quarter last year. The company’s revenue was $43.6 billion, growing from $39.19 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Lately, Cook’s approval rating among Apple employees has gone down. Online jobs and career Web site Glassdoor, reported that from March 2012 to March 2013, Cook’s approval rating from 640 Apple workers was 93 per cent, putting him at No. 18 behind the likes of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (No. 1), EMC’s Joe Tucci (No. 7) and Google’s Larry Page (No.11).

Last year, Cook held first place in the Glassdoor rankings with an approval rating of 97 per cent. The year before that, Jobs held the number one spot with an approval rating of 95 per cent.