Billionaire investor calls on Tim Cook to speak out against President Trump: 'Memos to employees is easy'

By Stephen Warwick
last updated

Tim Cook
Tim Cook (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • A billionaire investor has called on Tim Cook to act further regarding justice and equality.
  • Cook has previously issued a memo to employees noting Apple's response to protests over the death of George Floyd.
  • In particular, Vinod Khosla criticized Tim Cook "sucking up" to Donald Trump.

Billionaire investor Vinod Khosla has criticized Tim Cook for "sucking up" to President Trump and called on him to do more in response to the death of Floyd George and the protests in America.

As reported by Business Insider:

Billionaire tech investor Vinod Khosla is urging Apple CEO Tim Cook to speak publicly about the company's values amid ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd."It's easy to support equality & justice for all decent folks," Khosla tweeted on June 1, as Recode first reported. "It's when one has to give up something to support it that belief in our real values show up. @tim_cook easy to talk but why do you suck up to @realDonaldTrump? Memo's to employees is easy. Please retweet."

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Earlier this week, Cook issued a memo to all Apple employees saying 'we must do more" and noting several donations Apple was making to relevant causes:

But together, we must do more. Today, Apple is making donations to a number of groups, including the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit committed to challenging racial injustice, ending mass incarceration, and protecting the human rights of the most vulnerable people in American society. For the month of June, and in honor of the Juneteenth holiday, we'll also be matching two-for-one all employee donations via Benevity.

In a follow-up comment to Recode Khosla said that "words on values are easy", and that if Tim Cook professed values, then he "should be willing to support them with actions that might cost them something". Specifically, he mentioned "knowing Tim cozied up to Trump to get tariff relief" and said, "I'd love for him to comment on Trump's racist rants".

Khosla seems to be referring not simply to "cost" in the form of donations, but rather seeing Tim Cook speak out against the president, even if it could cost Apple politically or economically.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9

1 Comment
  • Proof that success in one area is not proof of, in this case, great knowledge. One can be a successful investor and otherwise clueless in other areas.
    In this case, it’s a well documented fact (now resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people) that you cannot speak to truth to Trump without engaging is huge amounts of flattery. Which is what Cook’s doing.