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Donald Trump has millions in Apple stock despite calling for its boycott
Donald Trump owns Apple stock worth millions, despite calling on the American public to boycott the Californian company for refusing to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone.
The Rupublican candidate hopeful holds stock valued between $1.1 million and $2.25 million, a personal financial report he submitted to the US government revealed. He also owns shares in Google's umbrella company Alphabet and Amazon, CNET reported.
Trump suggested a boycott on Apple's products in February in an attempt to force the company into complying with government demands to gain access to the San Bernardino gunman's iPhone 5c.
"Apple ought to give the security for that phone, OK?" Mr Trump told a campaign rally in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. "What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number," he said, adding: "I just thought of it. Boycott Apple."
While Trump uses both Android and iPhone handsets to tweet on the campaign trail, he threatened to only use his Samsung model unless Apple handed over the information to the government and FBI.
The FBI eventually managed to access the iPhone without Apple's intervention in March, and is planning to crack the encryption of a second iPhone belonging to a teenager charged with the murder of two people.
During the same rally, Trump also appealed for Apple to move its manufacturing from China to the US, adding: "I want to see the day when Apple makes its products on our land. We're going to bring our jobs back to this country."
When asked his views on Trump while in a four-day visit to India last week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the company "believed strongly in diversity".
“Our company’s values are that we are open for everyone, we believe strongly in diversity and believe the best products are made by the most diverse people and we welcome everyone,” he said.
Silicon Valley itself is considered to be a generally liberal region.
Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg invited prominent US conservative leaders, including Trump's adviser Barry Bennett, to meet last week after the social networking giant was accused of showing a liberal political bias.
"I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post last week.
The move comes in the aftermath of allegations that Facebook workers were asked to suppress US conservative political news in its "Trending Topics" column, although Facebook has denied this sort of censorship.
Tom Stocky, who is responsible for the section, said it had “no evidence” to back up a report from technology website Gizmodo quoting an unnamed source that said the company disregarded conservative news outlets.
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