Tim Cook, who has been chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple (AAPL) for 15 years, is stepping down on Sept. 1 of this year.
Cook will transition to the role of executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors. He will be replaced in the CEO role by John Ternus, who is currently head of the company’s hardware engineering unit.
Tim Cook, age 65, assumed the CEO role at Apple in 2011 shortly before the death of company co-founder Steve Jobs.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in a written statement announcing the change.
Under Cook’s leadership, Apple’s market capitalization increased by more than 20-fold to reach $4 trillion U.S. The company also introduced new products such as the Apple Watch.
However, Apple has struggled in recent years with declining iPhone sales, notably in China, and criticisms that it has been slow to embrace artificial intelligence (A.I.).
Forbes magazine estimates Cook’s current net worth at close to $3 billion U.S.
As for Ternus, he will become Apple’s eighth CEO since the company was founded in 1976. Ternus will join Apple’s board of directors when he becomes CEO later this year.
Apple also said that Johny Srouji will become the company’s next chief hardware officer, taking over for Ternus in an expanded role.
Srouji currently serves as Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies. He will now also lead the company’s hardware engineering team.
Ternus is taking over Apple at a complicated time for the company. Beyond A.I., Apple also faces challenges such as geopolitical tensions, U.S. tariffs, and a memory chip shortage.
Ternus, age 50, has worked at Apple for half his life, joining just four years after he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in mechanical engineering.
His recent portfolio at Apple has included oversight of the hardware engineering teams behind the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, AirPods and Vision Pro headset.
Later this year, Apple is expected to launch an updated version of its Siri digital assistant that’s based on Google’s (GOOGL) Gemini A.I. model.
AAPL stock has risen 41% over the past 12 months to trade at $273.05 U.S. per share.
Tech Insider
