Tim Cook to step down as Apple CEO, John Ternus to replace him
Ternus was considered the front-runner for the job. During Cook’s tenure, he oversaw Apple stock gains of 1,933%, nearly quadrupling the S&P 500.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will step down in September, the company has announced. John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware, will take the helm September 1. Ternus was long considered the front-runner for the role, but September is earlier than many had expected.
“The transition, which was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors, follows a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process,” the company said in a statement.
Cook will become executive chairman, while Apple executive Johny Srouji will take the expanded role of chief hardware officer.
During Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s stock soared 1,933%, nearly quadrupling the 504% return of the S&P 500 over that same time frame.
“Apple is making a major transition on its AI strategy and longtime CEO and legendary Cook leaving now is a surprise,” wrote Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who says that investors will likely have a “mixed” reaction to this leadership change. “While there were rumors of Cook leaving as CEO, investors will for now have more questions than answers around the timing and what this means for the broader Apple strategy.”
Ives had picked Apple as one of his top 5 AI stocks for 2026 despite its “invisible AI strategy.”
Shares of the iPhone maker fell as much as 2% in postmarket trading, but pared more than half of those losses by 5:41 p.m. ET.
Previously the Financial Times had reported that Cook could leave his post as early as 2026, though Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman called that timeline “unlikely.”
Cook, 65, has led the iPhone maker for nearly 15 years, taking over from cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs in 2011. The Apple Watch, the company’s first major new product after the Jobs era, launched under Cook and became one of his biggest successes. He helped shift the device toward health and fitness and scale it into a mass-market business.
Before that, he served as Apple’s COO. Often described as a supply chain genius, Cook is responsible for much of Apple’s operational efficiency and its ability to scale production and distribution globally.
