As Tim Cook Exits A New Era Starts At Apple

Tim Cook Says Goodbye

Tim Cook marked his final day as Apple CEO on Monday with a company-wide memo, ending a 15-year run at one of the world’s most valuable companies. 

Hardware chief John Ternus takes over Tuesday. 

Under Cook, Apple’s annual revenue nearly quadrupled to more than $416 billion, and its market value rose from about $350 billion to roughly $4.6 trillion, second only to Nvidia. Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman and help manage the company’s political relationships. 

“The truth is, whatever there is to say about my success, I know it is all because of you,” Cook wrote, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. “You have brought out the best in me.” 

He said Apple’s culture mattered more than anything an annual report could capture and that the company has both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than it found it.

Ternus has spent 25 years at Apple. He became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013 and senior vice president in 2021, overseeing generations of Macs, iPads, iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches, as well as the shift to Apple’s custom silicon. Cook said he would miss leading the company but took “enormous comfort” in handing the job to Ternus. 

“Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does,” he wrote. The handover comes just before Apple’s Sept. 9 “Surprise and shine” event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino. The company is widely expected to unveil a foldable iPhone, a new iPhone Pro and possibly updated Apple Watches. Ternus is expected to lead that event.