Tim Cook Pep-Talks Himself

Tim Cook on X:

Dr. King once said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” True greatness lies in lifting others, making a difference, and serving with purpose. Let’s honor his legacy by finding ways to serve and create a better world together.

Curious to see if that’s Cook’s only tweet of the day, or if a congratulatory one is forthcoming, after Trump’s oath of office at noon. Update: Here’s the congratulatory tweet, posted at 2:40pm. No exclamation marks this time.

Apple has been dedicating its homepage to MLK on his holiday for at least 10 years, so today isn’t some exception just because it’s also Inauguration Day. But it’s perhaps worth pointing out that few among Apple’s corporate peers are doing this. The homepages of (in market cap order), Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla make no mention of either MLK or Trump’s inauguration. Just another day on the calendar for all of them. But I’m not sure any of those companies ever tend to celebrate holidays on their company homepages.

But the one company that is famous for its holiday “doodles” is Google. And Google’s homepage today makes no mention today of MLK, but does direct visitors’ attention to their hosted livestream of Trump’s inauguration. Not a doodle, just “🇺🇸 Live! Watch President Trump’s Inauguration”, and nothing about MLK. [Update, 2:15 pm: Google.com now has a nice MLK doodle. Perhaps it was a pre- and post-inauguration distinction? Others report seeing the MLK hopscotch doodle all day.]

If you want to argue that all of these companies, and each of their CEOs, suck, today’s your day. But there are degrees of sucking, and one two of these companies are, still, to some degree, not quite like the others.

★ Monday, 20 January 2025