Sinofsky on Cook and Forstall
Emails released by the Justice Department on Friday appear to show that former Windows boss Steven Sinofsky not only consulted Jeffrey Epstein for help in securing his $14 million “retirement” package in November of 2012, but also in working on future career steps at other companies like Samsung or Apple. One document appears to show that a couple of weeks after Sinofsky’s departure was announced, Epstein wrote to him saying Apple CEO Tim Cook was “excited to meet.”
While apparently excited, Cook allegedly turned down the meeting. Epstein recounts that Cook declined because he was told that Sinofsky was starting a company with “farstall?(sp).”
Tim Cook was actively thwarting Scott Forstall’s business prospects even after Scott was no longer employed by Apple.
Scott played the most significant role in the development of iPhone and iPad save for maybe two or three other people. Did he deserve to be crushed by Tim?
forstall was the guy who led the iphone software - essentially my counterpart. he was actually fired for being mean to people. I called him and we joked. he is from Seattle and his brother works at ms.
was that tim brushing you off?
I could send tim mail but don’t want him to forward to steve.
This was sent more than a year after Steve Jobs died, so I’m not sure who he’s referring to. Was he worried about Ballmer?
Steven Sinofsky, writing to Epstein (via Edward):
The industry is going through a post-hp (post bill, post jobs, post chambers) world where leaders are being picked for being stewards and benign (hopefully). The big tech compnies are all on a path to be mediocre because of that. That’s really driving the bearish views of apple--Tim isn’t the right guy and it started with forstall being fired.
Microsoft going with tony bates. Hp going with meg. People with no views of the industry. Just people who organize and speak about it.
Personally I think apple and google need them, skills, most. Apple has no one. Google killing it now but very fragile.
Update (2026-02-04): Carly Page:
Steven Sinofsky warned Microsoft that its flagship Surface was about to flop in public, then sought exit advice from Jeffrey Epstein as he negotiated his way out of Redmond.
[…]
In an email to CEO Steve Ballmer and COO Kevin Turner, he said the device was “about to catastrophically fail in a very public way,” with sales tracking at roughly one-tenth of even the lowest expectations. Once the numbers escaped, he added, there would be no hiding it. “Word will get out very soon. There is no long term without this.”
Nine days later, Sinofsky was gone.
[…]
The emails also detail Sinofsky’s unease about life after Microsoft. He floated the idea of working at Samsung, then immediately worried about being sued. Microsoft, he noted, had a long history of dragging former executives into court under the theory of “inevitable leakage of trade secrets,” filing public, bruising, and professionally disabling cases even when defendants eventually prevailed.
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Why am I not surprised that both Sinofsky and Cook knew Epstein.
It is very ironic to me that he was willing to work with Sinofsky but not Forstall, and presumably already had Dye in place.
Sinofsky and Dye together are the figureheads of the worst era of interfaces in computing history. If anyone needed any more proof Cook has no taste, this is it. Sinofsky had already ruined Windows by that time and apparently Cook loved it so much he eventually let Dye do the same thing.
And yes he was definitely referring to Steve Ballmer. He didn't want to get a chair thrown at him.
I'm baffled why I'm not seeing more people pointing out how insane and horrific it is that Tim Cook was close with Epstein.
That could explain why Tim has been kowtowing to Trump so pitifully. He knows Trump could wreck him personally
@Kristoffer @Manx Maybe there’s more that hasn't been uncovered yet, but from what I’ve seen here I don’t think there’s enough to conclude that Cook and Epstein were close. I’m not even 100% sure Cook met with Epstein, who may have just been relaying what Ian Osborne told him. But, yes, this was all after Epstein had been convicted.
"I'm baffled why I'm not seeing more people pointing out how insane and horrific it is that Tim Cook was close with Epstein."
We live in a post-accountability system. People got so upset by cancel culture that they decided they wanted a president who ignores court orders, runs crypto scams, has people shot in the streets, and assaults women.
There are dozens of people in the leaks who clearly not only knew Epstein but also went to his parties. Bill Gates had sex with a Russian prostitute, got an STD, gave it to his wife, and then tried to dose her with antibiotics without her knowledge. Are there any repercussions for him? For any of these people?
Why should anyone care that Cook knew Epstein and had contact with him even after he was charged with child prostitution?
> The industry is going through a post-hp (post bill, post jobs, post chambers) world where leaders are being picked for being stewards and benign (hopefully). The big tech compnies are all on a path to be mediocre because of that. That’s really driving the bearish views of apple--Tim isn’t the right guy and it started with forstall being fired.
very interesting analysis. This was indeed true that Steve Balmer, Tim Cook and Meg were all bean counters and the companies stopped making interesting things in the decade their reigned.
> [Forstall] was actually fired for being mean to people.
> Tim Cook was actively thwarting Scott Forstall’s business prospects even after Scott was no longer employed by Apple.
Apparently Tim Cook can be meaner.
