John Ternus replaces Tim Cook as Apple CEO
John Ternus became Apple’s CEO on Tuesday, succeeding Tim Cook, the company’s leader for the past 15 years. The long-awaited handover, Mr Cook said, would be “perfectly smooth”.
But the changing of the guard may still have some bumps. Mr. Ternus will have to guide Apple through an unusual amount of management. It will have to stop the exodus of talent to companies like OpenAI. And he will have to differentiate himself from Mr. Cook, who will remain at Apple as its executive chairman.
Above all, Mr. Ternus will have to strike a balance: demonstrate the financial predictability and discipline that have been hallmarks of the Cook era, while showing that Apple can still create new products that capture consumers’ imaginations.
Mr. Ternus will have to do this while Apple presides over arguably the biggest technological shift in a generation. Apple is expected to unveil a foldable iPhone at its annual hardware event this month – the most significant change to its most important product in 19 years. The company is also struggling once again to weave artificial intelligence through its products.
“Apple is going to have to face this idea of ’What’s next?'” said Michael Gartenberg, a consumer technology analyst who worked as a product marketer at Apple from 2013 to 2016. He added that Mr. Ternus’ job is to “bring Apple back to a great brand, even if it’s a multi-trillion dollar company, to show that you can innovate.”
Apple, which has been hesitant to aggressively embrace AI, will address these issues with a changing management team. Over the past four months, Mr. Ternus, 51, has begun installing his own executives, mixing a roster of Apple veterans with newcomers.
“Apple is a company that’s used to having a consistent brain trust,” said Jennifer Chatman, dean of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and director of its Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation. “The challenge is, are you getting enough new ideas?”
Apple declined to comment.
This summer, Apple hired American Airlines’ Nate Gatten to lead government affairs, replacing Kate Adams, who will retire this year. Laura Legros, vice president of hardware engineering and Mr. Ternus’ deputy before he retires from Apple in 2022, has rejoined the company, three people familiar with the hiring said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Ms. Legros, who reports to Mr. Ternus, could act as his adviser and emissary to various parts of the company, the three people said.
Mr. Gatten and Ms. Legros could soon be joined by other new leaders. Almost half of Mr. Ternus’ executive team is nearing the traditional retirement age, although none of the members has said publicly that he plans to step down. In addition to Ms. Adams, there have been executive departures, including Jennifer Bailey, head of Apple Pay, who will retire this year. She joined the company in 2003.
A series of leadership changes goes to the heart of Apple’s vital hardware organization, which was restructured in April. When Apple named Mr. Ternus as its next chief executive, the company also promoted chip leader Johny Srouji to hardware director. The Apple hardware engineering team that Mr. Ternus led, which works on devices like the iPhone, has since merged with the hardware technology teams that Mr. Srouji led.
Mr. Srouji’s rise coincided with his departure from the hardware organization. Brian Lynch, who led hardware for Apple’s smart home products, joined smart ring maker Oura in March. Paul Meade, who led hardware for Apple’s augmented and virtual reality products, joined OpenAI in July.
Bloomberg previously reported on aspects of the transition at Apple.
Apple has also seen a number of layoffs. More than 400 of its former employees work at OpenAI, according to an intellectual property lawsuit Apple filed against OpenAI in July.
Many of those departures came in the months after OpenAI acquired IO, a design studio co-founded by former longtime Apple design chief Jony Ive. OpenAI’s hardware division, led by another former Apple executive and IO founder, hired dozens of Apple engineers, according to the lawsuit. OpenAI moved to dismiss the lawsuit in August.
(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems. Both companies have denied the claims.)
Mr. Ternus will also have to define himself as CEO, even with Mr. Cook as executive chairman. Apple said Mr. Cook, 65, “will assist with certain aspects of the company, including dealing with policymakers around the world.”
Silicon Valley companies have long had CEOs step down and stay on as board chairmen, though that setup has produced mixed results, said David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School who has written case studies on Apple.
The test for Mr. Ternus and Mr. Cook, Mr. Yoffie added, will come if they diverge on strategy or their vision for Apple. For example, Mr. Ternus could choose to invest more deeply in AI; restart the Apple car project that Mr. Cook killed in 2024; or end Apple’s work on the Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset released in 2024.
“The question is, will Tim be happy with these changes?” said Mr. Yoffie. “Will John feel uncomfortable doing those things because Tim is still there?”
So far, Mr. Cook and Mr. Ternus seem to be on the same page. In July, they attended the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, a gathering of top finance, media and technology leaders. That month, at the premiere of the Apple TV series “Ted Lasso” in Los Angeles, the two wore nearly identical navy suits with yellow pins on the right lapels.
“We really set the bar for this transition to be the best,” Mr. Cook said in the interview during the premiere. “We want it to be a textbook example, and that’s exactly what it’s going to be. I feel great about it.”