Apple's head of special projects Paul Deneve no longer reports to Tim Cook

Apple's head of special projects Paul Deneve no longer sits within the company's top leadership team, meaning he has stopped reporting directly into CEO Tim Cook.

Apple blog MacRumors noticed on Friday Deneve had been removed from the executive profiles page on Apple's website.

On Saturday, Financial Times reporter Tim Bradshaw tweeted that Apple confirmed Deneve is still with the company, but now reports into COO Jeff Williams, who also oversees Apple Watch and its health initiatives. Apple did not elaborate on why the change was made.

Deneve's LinkedIn profile continues to state he is a vice president at Apple.

Deneve joined Apple in 2013 from Paris-based luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, where he was chief executive.

Quite what Deneve has been working on since joining the Apple isn't entirely clear. His former executive bio page simply listed him as "vice president of special projects at Apple, reporting to Tim Cook" and he hasn't given interviews to the press or appeared on stage at the company's events.

However, he has likely played a helping hand introducing Apple to the fashion world, particularly with the launch of the Apple Watch, which was quickly adopted by models, designers, and fashion magazine editors. And while Deneve keeps a low profile, he was recently photographed at the glitzy San Francisco Mid-Winter Gala.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.