Apple CEO Tim Cook said to Fortune magazine that he is planning to donate his entire fortune, estimated at $785 million.
However, the donation will happen after a specific condition has been fulfilled. The chief executive of the biggest technology corporation in the world said that his fortune will be donated to charity once he has fully paid the college education of his nephew, who is 10 years old.
"You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change," said Cook to Fortune.
The magazine's estimations on the net worth of Cook's fortune is based on the Apple shares that he owns, which is worth around $120 million. In addition, Cook also owns restricted stock that is equivalent to $665 million if they were fully vested.
The revelation that the 54-year-old Cook made in a feature article written by Fortune on the Apple CEO makes him one example out of the growing list of the richest people in the world that are diving into public charity.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has previously encouraged the world's wealthiest people to donate at least 50 percent of their net worth through the "Giving Pledge" initiative, which already has trailblazers such as Microsoft's Bill Gates, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle's Larry Ellison among its participants.
While the net worth of Cook does not come anywhere close to that of Gates or Zuckerberg, both of which are worth upwards of billions of dollars, Cook stated that he is hoping that he will still make a difference.
Cook, however, is not listed as a participant of the Giving Pledge, as the CEO has previously shunned the spotlight for his charity works as a very private individual.
However, Cook has recently started openly voicing out about a range of issues, including civil rights and environmental protection. Cook, who has also recently revealed that he was gay, also speaks out against the discrimination of LGBT communities.
In his interview with Fortune, Cook said that he has already started with giving out donations to different advocacies away from the eye of the public. Cook also stated that he is looking to create a more systematic approach for philanthropy that is just not about giving away money.
The Fortune interview also illustrated Cook's many differences with late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, including Cook's emphasis on selling to enterprises as opposed to Jobs' disdain to sell to corporations, Cook's sharing of the limelight with other top executives as opposed to Jobs' focusing of the limelight on him, and Cook's penchant for acquisition such as buying Beats for $3 billion, as opposed to Jobs' refusal to make big purchases.
