Tim Cook Visits Europe to Meet EU Antitrust Chief, Pope Francis and Italian Developers

[MacRumors]

Apple CEO Tim Cook traveled to Europe this week to meet with European Commission antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in Brussels on Thursday, before heading to Rome on Friday to meet Pope Francis and Italian developers.

Cook first met with Vestager to lobby against an European tax investigation that could force the iPhone and iPad maker to pay more than $8 billion in back taxes on overseas earnings, according to Bloomberg.

European Commission headquarters in Brussels (Image: Hungary Today)​

Apple is accused of operating multiple subsidiaries in Ireland to avoid paying higher taxes outside the United States, where it earns just under 60% of its revenue. Apple books its taxes in Ireland using low operating costs, allowing it to pay a foreign tax rate of only 1.8%, according to the report.

If the European Commission finds wrongdoing with Apple's corporate arrangement in Ireland, the company's $64.1 billion in profit generated from 2004 to 2012 could be subject to a higher 12.5% corporate tax rate -- just over $8 billion in back taxes.

A decision in the probe could be made by March, but may take longer due to additional information requested by European regulators. Apple continues to deny any wrongdoing, and vows to take the European Commission to court over any negative verdict.

Meanwhile, the agenda of Cook's meeting with Pope Francis remains private. The 15-minute discussion was held at 11:30 a.m. local time.

Pope Francis is known to incorporate technology into his position and takes to Twitter fairly regularly to share messages, and his old iPad was auctioned for $30,500 last year.

On Thursday, Cook tweeted about Apple's newly announced iOS development center in Italy, and said the company has created over 1.4 million jobs across Europe.

Apple has created over 1.4m jobs across Europe 🇪🇺 and we're announcing a center for aspiring iOS developers in Italy https://t.co/v9RLYX6u6u - Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 21, 2016

Great to meet talented Italian developers today with @matteorenzi in Rome pic.twitter.com/2DcRPMYNHD - Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 22, 2016

Cook met some of those iOS developers on Friday alongside Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.

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Article Link: Tim Cook Visits Europe to Meet EU Antitrust Chief, Pope Francis and Italian Developers

 

[RamGuy]

Nice to see Timothy all suited up and not in his tracksuit for a change

 

[bpeeps]

The best part about all of this is 64.1 billion minus 8 billion is still billions. That's how much money Apple has.

 

[MH01]

Wonder if the pope will ask him to pay his taxes ha ha .

Enjoy the trip TC , it's a good mix of events planned

 

[winston1236]

Ah, the good life. Anyway back to work.

 

[JPLC]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

 

[MarkusL]

Wouldn't it make more sense to meet the Antichrist Chief and the Pope, to hear both sides of the story?

 

[Rogifan]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

They probably discussed global warming.

 

[recoil80]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

I don't know but the Pope also met Erich Schmidt last week

 

[FieldingMellish]

Did Tim take his private jet over there to discuss global warming?

We do have things such as Go To Meeting these days.

 

[yaxomoxay]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

Because he's the head of a state, and they probably discussed charity, global warming and other stuff.

 

[thewap]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

Why not?

 

[yaxomoxay]

Did Tim take his private jet over there to discuss global warming?

We do have things such as Go To Meeting these days.

You don't always discuss agreements on the phone or on the internet. Some stuff is done in person, as any diplomat would tell you.

Your nickname is amazing.

 

[JPLC]

I don't know but the Pope also met Erich Schmidt last week

Must be something American. I just don't get it.

Is this Vatican 2.0? Does the Pope own a white iMac? Is this why Apple made earbuds white? Is there a vote-a-Pope app and does it smoke? Are they all lizards? Does Dan Brown know? Questions, questions...

 

[HenryDJP]

Nice to see Timothy all suited up and not in his tracksuit for a change

Tracksuit? He always wears a dress shirt at least.

 

[jdillings]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

Probably has Apple stock and wants to make sure Tim is keeping those fat margins going.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

"Apple has created over 1.4m jobs across Europe" frantically trying to come up with ways to hide more of our profits...

OUCH!

What? Too soon?

 

[furi0usbee]

And here is Tim's response to each:

EU Antitrust Chief: Sorry, we think we've paid our fair share already.
Pope Francis: Sorry, we think we've done enough good for humanity already.
Italian Developers: We've paid out $15 billion to developers already, and that's just the beginning!
[doublepost=1453481885][/doublepost]

"Apple has created over 1.4m jobs across Europe" frantically trying to come up with ways to hide more of our profits...

OUCH!

What? Too soon?

LOL. Yeah and that's just Ireland!

 

[yaxomoxay]

Must be something American. I just don't get it.

The pope is the head of state of the Holy See, which has several diplomats around the world. There are many possibilities on why they met. For sure they didn't meet to discuss

I just don't get it.

Is this Vatican 2.0? Does the Pope own a white iMac? Is this why Apple made earbuds white? Is there a vote-a-Pope app and does it smoke? Are they all lizards? Does Dan Brown know? Questions, questions...

As the head of his state there might be a million reasons why they met. It is not uncommon that they discuss some diplomatic issue, and as far as we might now they might be trying to push some sort of relation. For example, Tim Cook has a good relationship with China, which could help the Vatican to prevent some discrimination that is going on there against catholics. Vice versa, the Vatican has many connections with Africa, so they might have discussed how to bring more technology to poor country (and here google comes in play). You never know, we just see the photo op.
Read what hoops had to do Nixon just to send a one line message to China...

 

[citysnaps]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

Though not in total alignment, they both have similar human rights and environmental views. It's a 15 minute courtesy. He received Eric Schmidt earlier.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Though not in total alignment, they both have similar human rights and environmental views. It's a 15 minute courtesy. He received Eric Schmidt earlier.

THE Eric Schmidt? The guy that killed Sun, and Novell? Wow... He has a lot to confess...

 

[Gasu E.]

Must be something American. I just don't get it.

Is this Vatican 2.0? Does the Pope own a white iMac? Is this why Apple made earbuds white? Is there a vote-a-Pope app and does it smoke? Are they all lizards? Does Dan Brown know? Questions, questions...

Vatican 2.0 came out in 1962. Maybe Tim offered for Apple to Beta test Vatican 3.0?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council

 

[Robert.Walter]

Because he's the head of a state, and they probably discussed charity, global warming and other stuff.

Yeah. And in the 15th minute, they both rested.
[doublepost=1453483487][/doublepost]Pope is looking for balance, last week he met with Silicon Valley's beast, this week it's prime of light.

These things are really simple if one thinks about it.

 

[Thunderhawks]

The Pope? Seriously, why?!

I don't know how this dude got elected by the crusty oldtimers, however he is the first pope in a while with a little bit of reality recognition.

I don't do religion, but by the councils standard Francis is a teenager. He has already cut out lots of baloney, is accessible and doesn't always spew the same tired mantras.

He is interested in the well being of humans and despite the fact that not everything religion does helps, they do have a pretty solid network around the world, which may come in handy for both.

Tim and Francis I am sure had plenty to discuss and I would not be surprised if that wasn't the last meeting.

Now, if everybody would stop praying and asking for something on Sundays = God's day off
she could really rest.

 

[Zirel]

Wonder if the pope will ask him to pay his taxes ha ha .

Nope. It's the tax collectors that need saving. Read the bible.