Apple’s chief executive officer, Tim Cook, is set to step down from his position, marking the end of a nearly 15-year tenure that oversaw a remarkable surge in the company’s market value by over $3.6 trillion USD driven by the success of the iPhone.
Cook, aged 65, will pass on the CEO role to John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, effective September 1. He will continue to be involved with Apple in the capacity of executive chairman. This transition is reminiscent of leadership changes seen at other tech giants like Amazon and Netflix when Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings respectively moved into different roles after their successful tenures as CEOs.
Despite comparisons to his predecessor Steve Jobs, Cook successfully capitalized on the iPhone’s popularity and other innovations introduced by Jobs, propelling Apple to unprecedented heights from a near-bankrupt state in the mid-1990s.
Having led Apple since 2011, Cook will assume the role of executive chairman, as confirmed by Apple in a statement. The company’s board of directors unanimously approved this change, emphasizing a thorough and strategic succession planning process.
John Ternus expressed gratitude for the opportunity to further Apple’s mission, while Cook described his time as CEO as the “greatest privilege” of his life. He expressed confidence in Ternus, praising him as a “visionary” and the ideal leader to steer Apple towards future success.