1. Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that he is gay in an essay penned for Bloomberg Businessweek that ran Thursday morning.
"I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others," Cook wrote. "So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy."
Earlier this week, Cook urged his home state of Alabama to do more to protect the rights of LGBT individuals.
Tim Cook: "I'm proud to be gay." Read his important and courageous essay @bw http://t.co/cCvj2sGLAt
— Josh (@Tyrangiel) October 30, 2014
2. The San Francisco Giants won their third World Series in five years Wednesday night, led by pitcher Madison Bumgarner coming out of the bullpen in a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals.
While Bumgarner was the biggest star on the field, Twitter users took a liking to Chevrolet executive Rikk Wilde — aka #ChevyGuy — who nervously presented the MVP trophy to Bumgarner post-game.
Poor guy... @tonydizinno: @keselowski It's already on YouTube: https://t.co/CC1mdYMDvC"
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) October 30, 2014
3. After a false start with its debut, Microsoft officially unveiled the Microsoft Band wearable fitness device on Wednesday. It will go on sale today.
In a company blog post taking the wraps off the product, Microsoft’s Thomas Kohnstamm described how five engineers used it during a workout.
4. MDC Partners’ Strategic Marketing Services unit, which contains its PR firms, saw an 8.8% organic jump in revenue in the third quarter. Organic growth was up 8.2% for the company as a whole, though it reported a net loss of $4.9 million in Q3. MDC owns majority stakes in Allison+Partners, HL Group, Kwittken, and Sloane & Company, among others. In August, it bought a majority stake in Hunter Public Relations.
5. Twitter is losing two more executives: VP of engineering Jeremy Gordon and Adam Kinney, the leader of its analytics team.
6. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie held another explosive press conference on Wednesday. At an event marking the second anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Christie shouted down a protestor upset at the pace of rebuilding in some parts of New Jersey.
