Tim Cook buys into crypto—even if Apple isn’t following him yet

Tim Cook, CEO of the world’s second-most valuable company, however, isn’t quite ready to take that leap.

The Apple head honcho disclosed Tuesday that he’s personally taken an undisclosed stake in cryptocurrency, noting that he’s been “interested in it for a while.” Cook’s comments during the New York Times’ DealBook Online Summit come as cryptocurrency markets reach an all-time high, eclipsing a $3 trillion market cap this week.

“I think it’s reasonable to own as part of a diversified portfolio,” Cook told DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “And I’m not giving anyone investment advice by the way.”

He’s also not making crypto part of Apple’s core business—yet. 

Cook said Apple doesn’t have immediate plans to accept crypto through Apple Pay or as other legal tender—a leap that Microsoft, PayPal and several larger corporations have taken on varying scales in the past several years. Apple also won’t invest its cash balance in crypto, Cook said, because he doesn’t believe that shareholders think they’re getting into the still-novel market when they buy the company’s stock.

“If they want to do that, they can invest directly in crypto through other means,” Cook said.

But while Cook said he wouldn’t want to be classified as a crypto bull given his personal stake, Apple is exploring the landscape for future opportunities. True to form, Cook demurred when asked what Apple might have in the pipeline: “I wouldn’t want to have anything to announce today.”

On another hot-button issue of the day, Cook delivered a message to those in Silicon Valley upset with iPhone privacy changes: get used to it. 

Cook boasted that he feels “really good” with the tweaks, citing “great feedback from users.” The Financial Times reported last month that the April update, which requires apps to ask users for permission before tracking them for personalized ads, will cause an estimated $9.9 billion revenue loss for Facebook, Snap, Twitter, and YouTube in the second half of this year.

“What we’ve been all about is putting the power with the user,” Cook said. “We’re not making the decision. We’re just simply prompting them to be asked if they want to be tracked across apps or not. And of course many of them are deciding ‘no,’ and never wanted to be. It’s just that they didn’t have a choice before.”

Without naming any names—or disclosing any numbers—Cook said some companies are scoring better tracking rates with users than others.

“I think the companies that are more trusted are likely getting very different results than those that are not trusted,” he said.

Jacob Carpenter
jacob.carpenter@consultant.fortune.com

NEWSWORTHY

Roblox scores big third quarter. The online gaming platform reported that revenue more than doubled in the third quarter and losses were less than analysts expected, sending shares up about 35% as of mid-afternoon Tuesday. Analysts forecasted that the return to school by many preteens and teens, who comprise the biggest chunk of Roblox’s consumer base, would hit the company’s bottom line harder, the Wall Street Journal reported. Roblox also weathered a 70-hour blackout over Halloween, costing the company more than $30 million.

Tesla shareholders to Elon: Stop crowdsourcing. Tesla shares sank by nearly 5% on Monday following Elon Musk’s weekend tweet polling the masses about whether he should sell off a small chunk of his stake in the company, Reuters reported. While Musk framed the poll as a commentary on taxing unrealized capital gains, eagle-eyed Robert Frank at CNBC first noted that the Tesla CEO likely would have sold shares anyway to help cover a tax bill on stock options that expire next year. The selloff is a small blip in Tesla’s big rally over the last month, when its stock price jumped 47%.

A thief steals from Robinhood. Company executives said Monday that an intruder obtained limited personal information of roughly seven million customers, with no Social Security numbers or credit card data believed to be exposed in the breach, Bloomberg reported. The hacker—who gained access to their systems following a call with a customer service representative—demanded payment and made threats about what would be done with the stolen data, but Robinhood officials didn’t classify the incident as a ransomware attack.

Mission accomplished for SpaceX. Four astronauts returned from a 200-day journey in a SpaceX capsule Monday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to mark the company’s fourth successful mission aboard the Dragon, the New York Times reported. The homecoming marks another win for SpaceX in its relationship with NASA, which tapped the company to replace its space shuttle. The mission wasn’t without a hiccup, though: The astronauts had to revert to space-grade diapers for a week after a toilet malfunction. Bet they’re glad to be home.

A stocking stuffer for developers. Apple announced Monday that it won’t shut down its App Store for developer submissions during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, a reversal from recent years, TechCrunch reported. The holiday shutdown has been a headache for developers racing to make bug fixes and needed updates during one of the busiest times for customer downloads. Apple did caution that developers should expect slower response times during the holiday windows. Everyone deserves a little turkey—or tofurkey—after all.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A ‘zombie’ keeps anti-trust reform alive. Politico reports that about 20 votes cast by Rohit Chopra, a former Democratic commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, remain active despite his departure from the commission four weeks ago. As a result, the Democrats could retain a partisan edge that allows them to push through reforms likely opposed by Silicon Valley—though the exact issues voted on by Chopra remain unclear, with one exception. Chopra and the FTC say it’s all above board, while Republicans described the situation as “daft.”

From the article:

The maneuver means Chopra can be the deciding vote for Democratic initiatives until as late as December, despite the agency’s current 2-2 partisan split.

Republicans complain that the Democrats are wielding “zombie” votes, noting that Chopra has moved on to a new job running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for President Joe Biden. A debate is raging inside the FTC whether a commissioner’s votes should count once he or she has left the agency.

For Khan’s fellow progressives, though, the unorthodox process offers a chance to push ahead on policies like deterring monopolies, even as procedural hurdles such as the Senate’s filibuster rules stifle much of the liberal agenda in Washington.

[FTC Chair Lina] Khan has been assertive in wielding party-line votes to turn up the heat on corporate power since becoming chair in June, in what she has called a long-overdue rethinking of the 107-year-old agency’s approach to “rampant consolidation.” But the vacancy in Chopra’s old seat threatens to stall those efforts for months, especially if Senate Republicans drag out confirmation of Biden’s nominee for the post.

So far, Chopra’s retroactively counted votes have influenced only one FTC action to date: a 3-2 vote, announced Oct. 25, approving a policy statement requiring some companies obtain the commission’s approval for future mergers.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Cryptocurrencies hit market cap of $3 trillion for the first time as Bitcoin and Ether reach record highs, by Yvonne Lau

‘Create a game changer for the world’: Facebook whistleblower tells Europe’s lawmakers to rein in Big Tech, by Vivienne Walt

While investors await Rivian’s hotly anticipated IPO, these wanna-be Tesla-killers rev their engines, by Christiaan Hetzner

How Zipcar and DoorDash leaned on A.I. during the pandemic, by Alyssa Newcomb

Why Stanley Black & Decker’s CEO initially had the chief A.I. officer report to human resources, by Alyssa Newcomb

GE will split itself into 3 companies, marking the end of the conglomerate for good, by Ryan Beene and Bloomberg

How Google Cloud is making A.I. accessible to everyone, by Alyssa Newcomb

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BEFORE YOU GO

The mean streets of Boston have not been very kind to me. Since moving here five months ago, I’ve been cursed at and called a bleep-bleeping-bleeperbleeper more times that I can count while on the road. It’s enough to make me question whether to trade in my aging sedan for one of those e-bikes occasionally whizzing by me—and apparently I’m not alone. E-bikes are all the rage, the New York Times reports, outselling other environmentally-friendly options. An estimated 500,000 Americans got an e-bike in 2020, more than double the number of all-electric vehicles sold, industry experts told the Times. Now if only they could make Beantown drivers a bit friendlier, too.