Tim Cook, age 65, just named the date of his retirement … sorta. The Apple CEO is stepping back this fall to become “executive chairman,” the company announced Monday.
Surprising exactly no one who was paying attention, the company also announced the name of the executive who will take the CEO role starting this fall: John Ternus, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering.
The transition from the Cook era to the Ternus era was approved unanimously by the Apple board, the company said.
“I love Apple with all of my being,” Cook said in the announcement — and pivoted quickly to praising his successor.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor,” Cook wrote. “He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future.”
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Cook sought to assure investors that he’d still be involved, as the $3 trillion company makes its first CEO transition since Steve Jobs bowed out prior to his death in 2011.
“I look forward to working closely with [Ternus] on this transition and in my new role as executive chairman,” Cook wrote.
Apple’s announcement, surprising only in its timing, spent most of its paragraphs — nine out of 14 — talking about Cook’s achievements (including the reduction of Apple’s carbon footprint).
But more than a third of it was devoted to introducing Ternus, who is still not widely known despite overseeing the development of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AirPods, among many other Apple hits. In his comments, Ternus was keen to stress continuity.
“I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor,” Ternus said. “I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”
Ternus added that he was “filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come.”
The stock market didn’t exactly agree or disagree with Ternus on that score. Apple stock dipped in after-hours trading on the announcement of Cook’s retirement, but reversed nearly all of those losses within an hour.
