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Tim Cook meets with Jesse Jackson about diversity

Apple’s CEO has recently been in discussion with civil rights activist Jesse Jackson on the subject of diversity in the tech industry, something Cook has often shown himself to be an advocate for.

Jackson, when asked, refused to give details. He did say that the meeting was ‘positive and productive’. Apple released a statement regarding the meeting:

“Apple is deeply committed to diversity within our company and the advancement of human rights around the world. We had a productive meeting with Rev. Jesse Jackson and we value his input. We look forward to working with him, our employees, customers and other stakeholders as we look for ways to do more.”

Jackson noted that Cook “has a real vision for Apple and he sees the value in inclusiveness.”

The meeting shortly followed Apple’s refusal to make public the details of its federal diversity filing. They instead published their own results, showing a 70-30 split between male and female employees and how just over half of their workforce is white. Tim Cook clearly has strong feelings about the subject:

“Apple is committed to transparency, which is why we are publishing statistics about the race and gender makeup of our company. Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products.”