Apple chief executive Tim Cook stepped down on Monday after nearly 15 years at the helm, using a farewell memo to staff to honour company founder Steve Jobs and praise employees as an “extraordinary” team.
Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 and took over as CEO in 2011 weeks before Jobs died of pancreatic cancer, said the company had achieved its late founder’s vision under his leadership.
“We have made it possible to leave our ‘dent in the universe,’ as Steve once described it,” Cook wrote in the memo on his final day in the role.
He will become executive chairman, while hardware engineering chief John Ternus assumes the CEO position from Tuesday, becoming only the second person to lead Apple after Jobs.
“Whatever there is to say about my success, I know it is all because of you,” Cook told staff. “I have never seen or been with such an extraordinary team of people before, and every day I get to see more examples of that.”
He added: “I love this company and the team behind it,” describing his tenure as “the privilege of a lifetime serving as your leader.”
Under Cook’s stewardship, Apple grew into one of the world’s most valuable companies, with its market capitalisation exceeding $4.5 trillion on Monday. The firm employs around 166,000 people globally.
Ternus, who joined Apple’s design team in 2001 and rose to senior vice president of hardware engineering, takes charge just days before the company’s annual iPhone event on September 9, where a first foldable handset is expected.
The leadership change comes as Apple confronts supply chain pressures for advanced chips, intensifying competition in artificial intelligence and a complex political environment in the United States.
