Meet Ben Ling (Benjamin Ling)! Tim Cook’s boyfiend! Nicholas Jackson, with The Atlantic, in an article entited “To Be the Most Powerful Gay Man in Tech, Cook Needs to Come Out,” wrote “Top Apple executives claim to be supportive, but worry that if Tim Cook comes out, the public perception of Apple could be harmed.”

Tim Cook has been with Apple since 1998. He has been called a workaholic and a fitness nut. In January, Gawker’s Valleywag called Cook “the most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley.”

The site reported, “We’ve since heard from two well-placed sources that this is indeed the case, and it sounds like Cook’s sexual orientation has been the topic of at least some discussion within the company.”

Tim Cook and Ben Ling (Benjamin Ling)

Valleywag added, “Cook is into Asian guys, a tidbit that prompted another tech observer, with whom we shared the item, to propose some strategic matchmaking that would pair Cook with Google hotshot Ben Ling.”

Who is Ben Ling (Benjamin Ling)?

Ben Ling is an Investment Partner at Khosla Ventures, where he is focused on mobile and Internet, marketplace, consumer health and data businesses. He is an accomplished executive and angel investor, with senior operating roles at Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Badoo. His personal investments include Square, Palantir, Quora, and PracticeFusion, Fab, DogVacay, and he holds advisory roles at Pinterest and Pulse.

Ben currently serves on the board of Wattpad, Tapingo, Academia.edu, TheHunt, Quantopian, and Pymetrics.

At Google, he was Google’s Senior Director of Search Products and Local Business Products, including overseeing Images, Videos, Books, News and Finance. At YouTube, he was Senior Director of Partnerships and Platform, responsible for Music, Movies, Sports, News, as well as Mobile, TV, and API partnerships. In his first role at Google, Ben was the founder and GM of Google’s Commerce group, including Google Wallet and Shopping.

At Facebook, Ben was Director of Facebook Platform overseeing the Facebook developer ecosystem, and led product, marketing, developer operations, partner solutions, and helped build Facebook Connect, which has helped Facebook grow across the web.

Ben holds a Ph.D. and Master’s in Computer Science from Stanford University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering / Computer Science with a minor in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.

Ben is a Department of Defense Fellow and recipient of UC Berkeley’s Bechtel Achievement Award (Top graduating senior in College of Engineering).

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