Now in his tenth year as CEO, Tim Cook first joined Apple in 1998. The company was 22 years old then, and heading into a resurgence with the return of Jobs. It had already had most of its growing pains, but was yet to be the powerhouse company it would become. Apple's three-act story Today Apple is in the third act of its story. Back in the 1970s, it had its exciting first act, then it went through turmoil in the 1990s for its second, before ultimately becoming the textbook American success story. You can start a multinational, multi-billion dollar company in a garage.