The fruity cargo cult Apple is teeing up a top-table swap that will put its long-running hardware boss in the big chair.
Apple’s supreme dalek, Tim Cook, is set to step aside after a board-approved succession process, with Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, lined up to take the job.
Cook will shift into the role of executive chair, staying on as chief executive through the summer while Ternus gets his feet under the desk and works out how to operate the executive drinks cabinet.
Ternus is a familiar face in Job’s Mob’s flying saucer, joining the product design team in 2001 and climbing through hardware engineering as iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple Watch multiplied.
The boardroom reshuffle has its own musical-chairs routine, with Apple’s non-executive chair, Arthur Levinson, moving to lead independent director as Ternus joins the board.
Job’s Mob, non-executive chair Arthur Levinson: “Tim’s unprecedented and outstanding leadership has transformed Apple into the world’s best company. He’s introduced groundbreaking products and services time and again, and his integrity and values are infused into everything Apple does,”
Levinson followed up by leaning hard on continuity and the company’s favourite word, “future”, while Cook keeps a hand on the wheel from the board.
“On behalf of the entire board of directors, we are incredibly grateful for his countless contributions to Apple and the world, and we are thrilled he will now be executive chairman. We believe John is the best possible leader to succeed Tim, and as he transitions to CEO, we know his love of Apple, his leadership, deep technical knowledge, and relentless focus on creating great products will help lead Apple to an extraordinary future,” Levinson said.
Cook’s reign pushed Job’s Mob beyond its earlier kit-first identity, turning services, wearables, and custom silicon into the sort of revenue engine that makes accountants purr.
Apple, chief executive John Ternus will inherit a company that loves a “transition” almost as much as it loves control, and the board will be watching every screw.
