Apple taps John Ternus as CEO to replace Tim Cook, becoming chairman
Apple John Ternus will replace Tim Cook as CEO and Cook will assume the role of executive chairman effective September 1, it said on Monday.
Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, will join Apple’s board of directors when he becomes chief. Apple’s non-executive chairman, Arthur Levinson, will become the iPhone maker’s lead independent director at that time.
“Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer, working closely with Ternus to ensure a smooth transition,” Apple said. Press release.
This is the first CEO transition for Apple since Cook, now 65, replaced Steve Jobs in 2011, shortly before Jobs’ death. Ternus will be Apple’s eighth CEO.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be CEO of Apple and to be trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in a statement. “I love Apple with every fiber of my being, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a team of ingenious, innovative, creative and deeply caring people who are unwavering in their commitment to enriching our customers’ lives and creating the best products and services in the world.”
Apple also said Johny Srouji will become chief hardware officer and replace Ternus in an expanded role. Srouji, who most recently served as the company’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, will also lead hardware engineering.
Apple’s market value increased nearly 24-fold under Cook’s watch, closing at $4 trillion on Monday. Cook took home $74.6 million in total compensation last year, including a $3 million base salary and millions in stock awards. final regulatory submissions. Forbes predictions His net worth is $2.2 billion.
But Apple faces numerous challenges, including an increasingly complex supply chain, geopolitical tensions, the Trump administration’s tariffs, and a memory crisis tied to rising demand for AI chips.
Ternus, who is about 15 years younger than Cook, was Apple’s hardware boss and spent about half his life working at Apple, joining Apple just four years after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in mechanical engineering. With his recent profiles, he has been widely seen as the next in line. New York Times And Bloomberg. His portfolio also includes oversight of the hardware engineering teams behind the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods and Vision Pro.
During his nearly 15-year tenure, Cook has overseen Apple’s move into wearable technology with the launch of the Apple Watch, AirPods and Vision Pro, a virtual reality headset that has struggled to gain market adoption since its launch in 2024.
Under Cook, revenue nearly quadrupled to more than $400 billion in the last fiscal year. Cook is known in Silicon Valley as an operations guru, innovating Apple’s supply chain after joining in 1998 as vice president of worldwide sales and operations. When he arrived, Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Cook became a loyal aide to Jobs and rose to the position of Apple operations chief in 2005. Before joining Apple, Cook cut his teeth in the technology industry by spending 12 years at IBM, helping the company produce computers. He also briefly served as vice president of corporate materials at legacy computer manufacturer Compaq. Cook received his college degree from Auburn University in 1982 and his MBA from Duke University in 1988.
For Ternus, perhaps the most critical aspect of his job will be to push the company further into the artificial intelligence field, where it lags behind many of its megacap peers.
Although the iPhone 17 performed well, Apple faced criticism from investors and tech experts for its perceived lack of cutting-edge AI technology. This criticism was compounded when Apple delayed an upgrade to its Siri voice assistant last year. In December, Apple revamped its AI leadership by replacing its former chief with a Google veteran.
The company said it will release an updated version of Siri this year. Google Gemini artificial intelligence model.
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— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
WRISTWATCH: Apple executives Johnny Srouji and John Ternus on the growing chip business.
