Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, has come out as gay, describing his sexuality as "among the greatest gifts God has given me".
He said he was speaking publicly of his sexuality only because his wish to help others live open, honest lives had outweighed his instinct to keep quiet.
"I've come to realize that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important," he wrote, in an essay for Bloomberg Businessweek. "That's what has led me to today."
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Gay CEOs remain a rare breed, according to the New York Times.
"There are very few openly gay chief executives at the nation's 1,000 biggest companies," the paper reported in May. "While some might be out in their personal lives or be widely assumed to be gay, none has spoken publicly about it."
Writing for BusinessInsider, Alyson Shontell said that the sexuality of business leaders should not be regarded as noteworthy.
"Now that he's made the announcement and Apple's stock has remained flat, it seems clear that shareholders don't (and shouldn't) care," she wrote. "No CEO needs to do what Tim Cook just did. Who you love obviously has no reflection on how well you can run a company, nor is it the public's business."
The Times deputy business editor Andrew Clark, who described Cook's sexuality as an open secret, said the Apple CEO was now "the most prominent openly gay business person in the world".
Cook himself said that his colleagues have known for years that he is gay, and that "it doesn't seem to make a difference in the way they treat me". But he also said the culture at other companies may not be so welcoming.
"There are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation," he wrote. "There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being gay, or where we can be barred from visiting sick partners and sharing in their legacies. Countless people, particularly kids, face fear and abuse every day because of their sexual orientation."
Cook has maintained a lower profile than his predecessor, Steve Jobs, since taking over as CEO of Apple in 2011. He acknowledged that making today's announcement was not an easy choice.
Nevertheless, he invoked the spirit of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy as he said that he decided to speak up in the hope that others would be encouraged to do the same.
"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," he said.
