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Apple CEO 'not satisfied' with company's diversity: report

Apple's diversity data reflects that, as with other tech companies, its employee make-up is overwhelmingly white and male. 

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Mark Lennihan/AP
The Apple logo is illuminated in the entrance to the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York City.

Going by the numbers, Apple fits into a stereotype of many tech companies in Silicon Valley: its workforce is overwhelmingly white and male. 

Overall, 70 percent of Apple employees are men as opposed to 30 percent women, and 55 percent are white, according to statistics provided by Apple. In addition, 15 percent of its overall workforce is Asian, 11 percent is Hispanic, and 7 percent is Black. 

In company leadership roles, however, those numbers were even more distorted. Seventy-two percent of its employees in leadership roles are men as opposed to 28 percent women, and 64 percent are white, 21 percent are Asian, 6 percent are Hispanic, and 3 percent are Black. 

Apple's numbers of Black and Hispanic employees is higher than that of other major Silicon Valley companies, notes The Wall Street Journal. 

Apple chief executive Tim Cook wrote in a letter accompanying the diversity figures that he is "not satisfied" with these numbers and explained that Apple is working to improve upon them. 

"We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products," Mr. Cook writes in the letter. 

In the letter, Cook added that Apple's definition of diversity extends beyond race, gender, and ethnicity to include such categories as "sexual orientation, veteran status, and disabilities." 

"Who we are, where we come from, and what we’ve experienced influence the way we perceive issues and solve problems. We believe in celebrating that diversity and investing in it," he writes. 

Cook also highlighted the addition of several women to Apple's rank of senior executives. They include Angela Ahrendts, the former Burberry chief executive who is heading Apple's retail business; Lisa Jackson, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency who is Apple's environmental director; and Denise Young-Smith, the company's vice president of global retail. In addition, Cook mentioned Eddy Cue, a Cuban-American who is Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. 

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