Apple Hits New Highs as Tim Cook Celebrates One Year as CEO

On August 24 one year ago Steve Jobs stepped down from the Apple’s CEO post which he held for more a decade and Tim Cook took over the company’s management. After the announcement, Apple's stock dropped more than 5% in after hours to $351.

But now Apple is the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world. Its current share price is $668, gaining more than 75% year-over-year. With Cook in charge, Apple released the iPhone 4S, the new iPad, the Retina MacBook Pro, Mountain Lion and previewed the next version of iOS.

The San Jose Mercury News writes of Cook's first year, accompanied by the above chart:

"Tim knows he's not Steve Jobs and doesn't try to be," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management. "He's comfortable in his own skin, and he's done a remarkable job of under-promising and over-delivering. When Jobs walked out the door last year, a lot of people figured much of Apple's magic would disappear. It hasn't."

Many analysts say it is Cook's trademark mastery of supply-chain efficiency that leaves the 51-year-old workaholic and fitness buff poised to take Apple to ever greater heights. Cook has also made some significant changes at the company. He expanded Apple's charitable giving, initiated a dividend and share repurchase program and opened doors of its factories for the Fair Labor Association’s inspections.