Tim Cook Charity Lunch Auction Earns Over $680,000 for RFK Center

[MacRumors]

Tim Cook's fifth annual CharityBuzz auction ended this afternoon, earning more than $680,000 for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

More than 30 people placed bids for the chance to eat lunch with Tim Cook, and at over $680,000, the auction broke past earnings records which previously topped out at $610,000 in 2013.

Image via setteB.IT​

Today's auction winner will be able to eat lunch with Tim Cook at Apple Park, Apple's brand new campus that is still in the final stages of construction. The winner is able to bring one additional person to have a ~one-hour lunch with Cook, and while the cost of the lunch is included in the auction price, travel and accommodations are not.

Unlike past years, Cook's 2017 auction is limited to lunch alone and does not include tickets to an upcoming Apple keynote event.

All proceeds from today's auction will benefit the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, a charity that Tim Cook has now supported for five years. The RFK Center aims to achieve "a just and peaceful world by partnering with human rights leaders, teaching social justice, and advancing corporate responsibility."

Past auctions have raised $610,000 (2013), $330,001 (2014), $200,000 (2015), and $515,000 (2016) for the RFK Center.

Article Link: Tim Cook Charity Lunch Auction Earns Over $680,000 for RFK Center

 

[oftheheavens]

Some people have to much money to waste.

 

[sza]

Which numbnuts won?

 

[roar08]

Some people have to much money to waste.

It's their money to waste. Earn yours and waste it however you please.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Some people have to much money to waste.

Well, it's definitely better than sending him an email. You have a good hour with him in person to talk about upcoming products, stocks, requests, etc.

 

[otternonsense]

I would most likely donate to a "resurrect Steve Jobs" charity.

 

[Rocketman]

Great way to raise money for this great cause that unfortunately is negatively effective. How can the funds be redeployed to a more effective entity? Lunch for anti-killer gender and religious warfare troops?

 

[tmjdisorder]

I would love for this to be done via a Prizeo raffle (or some other charity raffle), so mere mortals would have a chance to win.

 

[44267547]

Well, it's definitely better than sending him an email. You have a good hour with him in person to talk about upcoming products, stocks, requests, etc.

Furthermore, I would love to have a tour of Apple Park.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Well, it's definitely better than sending him an email. You have a good hour with him in person to talk about upcoming products, stocks, requests, etc.

Additionally, it's a tax deduction. People betting that money have millions and need to make substantial charitable donations each year to lower the taxes they owe. This helps them out. Means less goes to the IRS. Win-win on top of the fact that you get to hang with Tim for a bit and possibly work a business deal.

 

[blacktape242]

Elitist lunch for only the elite.

 

[ThomasJL]

A transcript of the lunch conversation between the auction winner and Tim Cook:


Auction Winner: If I were CEO of a company, what should I focus on?

Tim Cook: Focus on pleasing the shareholders. Shareholders are more important than customers who want the best tools for creative endeavors. Making as much money as possible is more important than innovation. It's better to make as much money as possible while simultaneously not being innovative than it is to make slightly less money while simultaneously being highly innovative.

Auction Winner: What are your thoughts on hiring people?

Tim Cook: Fire people who have the most creative vision, like Scott Forstall. It's more important to have Kum Ba Ya collaboration instead of owning up to my responsibility of CEO by keeping Forstall's abrasive character in check like my predecessor successfully did. Hire people for politically correct reasons, such as gender-based affirmative action hires like Angela Ahrendts who was hired because she is a woman, not because she is the best-qualified person for the job. Take the best industrial designer in the world and put him in charge of UI design, even though it is a totally different skill set that is highly complex and that he has no experience with.

Auction Winner: Speaking of UI, what are your thoughts on UI?

Tim Cook: Ever since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984, Apple has made the mistake of leading the industry in UI while other companies like Microsoft copied. I realized it's time for Apple to stop leading and start copying. Therefore, I agreed to get rid of the highly user-friendly skeuomorphic design that Apple pioneered and instead start copying Microsoft and Google by using flat design. I don't care if elderly people who have never used a computer in their life will be highly confused by flat design. I don't care that skeuomorphic design would help such elderly people and other first-time computer users by giving them visual clues. I care more about hipsters. Skeuomorphic design might have helped hipsters when they first started using computers, but now that hipsters are used to the interface, we don't need skeuomorphism anymore.

Auction Winner: Can you please give me a profound quote that you coined, that would sum up your mission here at Apple?

Tim Cook: Watch bands are like a bicycle for our minds.

 

[0007776]

Some people have to much money to waste.

Donating money to charity is not a waste. And I don't think anyone would pay that much for a lunch no matter who it was with if it wasn't for charity.

 

[Internet Enzyme]

And this is precisely why I could never be a CEO. I would be so nervous. The dude paid several hundred grand just to talk to me for an hour.

 

[dannyyankou]

Additionally, it's a tax deduction. People betting that money have millions and need to make substantial charitable donations each year to lower the taxes they owe. This helps them out. Means less goes to the IRS. Win-win on top of the fact that you get to hang with Tim for a bit and possibly work a business deal.

That's not how it works, Apple doesn't get a tax reduction, the highest bidder does.

Edit: Nevermind, I thought you were talking about Apple. I should read entire posts

 

[69Mustang]

That's not how it works, Apple doesn't get a tax reduction, the highest bidder does.

That's exactly what the @OldSchoolMacGuy quote states: "People betting (donating?) that money have millions and need to make substantial charitable donations each year to lower the taxes they owe."

 

[dannyyankou]

That's exactly what the @OldSchoolMacGuy quote states: "People betting (donating?) that money have millions and need to make substantial charitable donations each year to lower the taxes they owe."

Yeah, like a fool I didn't read the entire post and thought he was talking about Apple.

 

[maccingandsnacking]

At least lunch is included. I'd love to have the experience but how could a conversation with anyone be worth that much. You know he's not going to give anything away anyway.

 

[zooby]

.

 

[vipergts2207]

Some people have to much money to waste.

It goes to charity...

Additionally, it's a tax deduction. People betting that money have millions and need to make substantial charitable donations each year to lower the taxes they owe. This helps them out. Means less goes to the IRS. Win-win on top of the fact that you get to hang with Tim for a bit and possibly work a business deal.

I'm not well versed in tax law, but I'm pretty sure that if you receive something in return for a charitable donation then you cannot deduct the value of what it is you received. Arguably, the fair market value of meeting with Tim Cook for one hour is whatever the winner bid on the auction, netting a $0 deduction.

 

[emm386]

How desperate so you have to be?

His artificially imposed, slow way of speaking is supposed to allude to his words being thoughtful and considerate.

In reality though, he has no idea what to do.

 

[zooby]

.

 

[andy.ringwood]

Some people have to much money to waste.

Why don't you leave it to the individual to decide what they spend their own money with? Thanks!!

 

[btrach144]

A transcript of the lunch conversation between the auction winner and Tim Cook:


Auction Winner: If I were CEO of a company, what should I focus on?

Tim Cook: Focus on pleasing the shareholders. Shareholders are more important than customers who want the best tools for creative endeavors. Making as much money as possible is more important than innovation. It's better to make as much money as possible while simultaneously not being innovative than it is to make slightly less money while simultaneously being highly innovative.

Auction Winner: What are your thoughts on hiring people?

Tim Cook: Fire people who have the most creative vision, like Scott Forstall. It's more important to have Kum Ba Ya collaboration instead of owning up to my responsibility of CEO by keeping Forstall's abrasive character in check like my predecessor successfully did. Hire people for politically correct reasons, such as gender-based affirmative action hires like Angela Ahrendts who was hired because she is a woman, not because she is the best-qualified person for the job. Take the best industrial designer in the world and put him in charge of UI design, even though it is a totally different skill set that is highly complex and that he has no experience with.

Auction Winner: Speaking of UI, what are your thoughts on UI?

Tim Cook: Ever since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984, Apple has made the mistake of leading the industry in UI while other companies like Microsoft copied. I realized it's time for Apple to stop leading and start copying. Therefore, I agreed to get rid of the highly user-friendly skeuomorphic design that Apple pioneered and instead start copying Microsoft and Google by using flat design. I don't care if elderly people who have never used a computer in their life will be highly confused by flat design. I don't care that skeuomorphic design would help such elderly people and other first-time computer users by giving them visual clues. I care more about hipsters. Skeuomorphic design might have helped hipsters when they first started using computers, but now that hipsters are used to the interface, we don't need skeuomorphism anymore.

Auction Winner: Can you please give me a profound quote that you coined, that would sum up your mission here at Apple?

Tim Cook: Watch bands are like a bicycle for our minds.

I have to agree with everything except Angela Ahrendts. She's just been in the role long enough for us to judge her and things seem to be ok. She was the CEO of Burberry, who is doing well. I think she was qualified for the role. Whether or not she'll excel, we shall see.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

Donating money to charity is not a waste. And I don't think anyone would pay that much for a lunch no matter who it was with if it wasn't for charity.

Why don't you leave it to the individual to decide what they spend their own money with? Thanks!!

The question to be asked is where did that money come from. Is that person using corporate money for his/her own personal gain? If that money belongs to the corporation, what is the agenda for the meeting with Tim Cook? Will it to be further the interest of the corporation and benefit the shareholders?