apple chief executive tim  cook is joining the roster of the very rich who are giving away  their wealth the head of the world's largest  technology corporation told fortune magazine he plans to donate his  estimated $785million fortune to charity   after paying for his ten year old nephew's college education 'you want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the  ripples for change,' cook told the magazine scroll down for video  philanthropic: apple ceo tim cook plans to donate his estimated $785million fortune to charity, after he pays for his ten year old nephew's college education  fortune estimated cook's net worth, based on his holdings of  apple stock, at about $120million he also holds restricted  stock worth $665 million if it were to be fully vested the 54 year old ceo's revelation in fortune's lengthy  profile of him is an example of the increasingly public  philanthropy of the world's richest people billionaire financier warren buffett is encouraging the very  wealthy to give away at least half their worth in their  lifetimes through the 'giving pledge,' whose website lists such  luminaries as microsoft corp's bill gates, mark  zuckerberg of facebook inc and oracle corp's  larry ellison while cook's largesse could not begin to approach the scale  of a gates or zuckerberg   both worth billions of dollars   the  apple ceo told fortune he hopes to make a difference ceo: cook (left) took over as the head of apple when steve jobs (right) resigned in 2011 he is the only openly gay chief executive on the fortune 500 list of biggest us companies  cook, who is not listed on the website, is known as an  intensely private person who shuns the spotlight on  philanthropy in recent years, however, he has begun speaking out more  openly about issues ranging from the environment to civil  rights cook, who recently revealed he was gay, spoke out  against discrimination of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and  transsexual communities during his induction into the alabama  academy of honor last year he is the only openly gay chief executive on the fortune 500 list of biggest us companies, according to cnn former ceo of bp john brown, who held the position from 1995 to 2007, only acknowledged he was gay after leaving office when an ex boyfriend outed him cook took over apple's ceo position in 2011 after steve jobs resigned he told fortune he has started donating money to unspecified  causes quietly and is trying to develop a more 'systematic  approach' to philanthropy that goes beyond writing checks
cook an estimated $785million 120million warren buffet bill gates mark zuckerberg
cook has an estimated $785million fortune, with a net worth of $120million . he has started donating money to unspecified causes quietly and is trying to develop a more 'systematic approach' to philanthropy . other wealthy businessmen donating part of their fortune to charity include warren buffet, bill gates and mark zuckerberg 