Instant Reaction: Apple Names John Ternus Next CEO, Tim Cook Becomes Chairman

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2:10John Ternus:Bloomberg Audio Studios.

2:12Tim Cook:Podcasts, radio, news.

2:16John Ternus:This is a breaking news update from Bloomberg. Instant reaction and analysis from our 3 ,000 journalists and analysts around the world. John Ternus has been named CEO of Apple and Tim Cook named executive chair.

2:32Tim Cook:I'm going right to the press release from the company. Apple announcing that Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors and John Ternus, senior VP of hardware engineering, will become Apple's next chief executive officer effective on September 1, 2026. So that's later this year. Transition, which was approved unanimously by the board of directors, follows a thoughtful long-term succession planning process. Tim Cook continuing, Tim, in his role as CEO through the summer as he works closely with Turnus on a smooth transition. As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.

3:10Tim Cook:We have talked, certainly with our Mark Gurman, about the role that Tim Cook has played with this White House, but really with global leaders and guiding this company.

3:18John Ternus:Yeah, huge news in the world of Apple, the world of technology, the world of American companies and global companies. Apple has named Tim Cook executive chairman, John Ternus as CEO. Ternus will join the board of directors, also effective on September 1st. Tim Cook will be executive chair. Tim Cook will remain CEO of Apple through September 1st, through the summer. John Ternus will become CEO on September 1st. I want to bring in Bloomberg News Senior Executive Editor for Global Technology, Tom Giles. Tom joins us from New York. Hey, Tom, just your reaction to, I think, what a lot of people are surprised by.

3:59John Ternus:The timing. Well, it wasn't clear that it was going to happen this quickly. When we last wrote on this, as you mentioned in the big take, there was a sense. Tim Cook has been rather coy about this. How quickly is it going to happen? And we knew that Ternus was the heir apparent. We just didn't know how quickly it was going to happen. But look, Tim Cook has turned 60, 65. He has had a great run in many respects at Apple. Yes, we've talked a lot about the fact that they are not as far along in the use of AI as they would like to be, as they should be, frankly, given who they are. that said he is the person he took the baton from steve jobs he was remains operationally supply chain wise a genius in terms of making sure that apple has the components that it needs at the exact moment that it needs them he is the one who has been really the for many years behind the scenes before coming to the forefront of really enabling Apple to be as successful as it has been.

5:19John Ternus:If you don't have the supply chain down, it's really hard to create those devices with the margins that they have in as timely a manner as they are. It's been a rough few years for Apple in some respects with regard to, you know, we've talked about their car efforts that went nowhere. We talked about their TV efforts and AI. So there have been these moments over the last several years of like, well, where's that next killer product going to come from? He has led them into lots of new and really interesting areas in terms of media, in terms of AirPods. pods. There is a lot of really interesting new stuff going on there, but not the stuff that really grabs everybody's headlines.

6:08John Ternus:But Tom, all that to say, there's no indication that this was something that the board pushed for at this point. This was on Tim Cook's own accord at this point. There's no indication of anything along those lines. I mean, this is something that is being seen as orderly. There's a little bit of a tick down stock last I checked in late trading. But I mean, anybody who's been following Apple, anybody who's been reading ARCHI would know this was coming. They would know that Ternus was the person who has the confidence of Tim Cook and the confidence of the board. He spent half his life at Apple. He worked on computer monitors, product design for the iPad, took over development of the Mac.

6:55John Ternus:He's the head of engineering, hardware engineering since 2021. Expansion in the product lineup, functional improvement on products, things like battery life, performance, connectivity, those sound really nerdy, but they're hugely important to consumers and users of Apple's products. and you've seen him start to take on a bigger and more public role at Apple in recent months. Definitely there were signs that this was in the offing. Yeah, go ahead. No, no, no, please go. Well, I was just going to make the point that, too, you know, Tim Cook is leaving at an actually pretty good time when you look at the stock price over multiple years.

7:44John Ternus:you know, it's down off the high it reached in December, but it's hovering pretty close to that. So this is someone who has had the confidence of the investor community as a general rule over, you know, a very long tenure at Apple.

8:01Tim Cook:But to this point, you know, Ternus has really stepped up. As Mark reported in his story about the heir apparent or possible heir apparent where he named Ternus. You know, he talked about when Apple held that event in New York earlier in March to announce the MacBook Neo, it was Ternus, not Cook, who did the big reveal. That's right. Right. And he was on GMA, Good Morning America. So he definitely has been taking a step forward here, Tom.

8:26John Ternus:Yep, exactly. And they've been expanding his portfolio as well. Last year, got control of that secretive unit, developing robots.

8:39John Ternus:That's actually slated for release as early as next year. He's taking a bigger role in product marketing, as we've talked about, even to the point of editing copy for the website is one of the anecdotes that Mark got into his story. So his profile has been rising. His portfolio has been broadening. and now he's going to be the guy starting in a few months. Carol, I just want to say I'm doing a little bit of back-of-the-envelope terminal math here going back to January of 2011.

9:12Tim Cook:That looks like a pretty nice chart.

9:13John Ternus:I mean, if you're a shareholder of Apple since then, you're pretty happy. Shares of Apple up more than 2 ,200 % just since then. The S &P 500 up 465%. So on an annual basis, the Apple, since Tim Cook took over as CEO, was announced as interim CEO, is up 24.4 % annualized, okay, versus the S &P 500, 14%.

9:39Tim Cook:Well, on that, and we're showing that right now for those who are watching on YouTube and Bloomberg Originals. Tom, you know, the thing is, in the press release, as Tim and I have gone through it, it did say that Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. He's going to assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world. And I think about that share price and move up. The Apple supply chain is renowned. And as you said, Tim Cook is the guy who knows this. But he's had to negotiate with some tricky leaders, whether it's over in China, where they have such a big footprint.

10:12Tim Cook:And then as they've been pivoting to India and elsewhere, but then also dealing with a very complicated and sometimes difficult White House, an administration where you don't want to be on the wrong side of the president and his team. And Tim Cook has done this, I think many would say, flawlessly, really, really well. So having him in that position is an important one.

10:35John Ternus:You need somebody who can play a very diplomatic role on a global stage and who better than And then Tim Cook, the guy who's been there for so long and has has really been playing that role. As you said, you know, he it's there's a delicate delicate dance between Silicon Valley and the White House. Tim Cook has, you know, demonstrated that he has the ear of the president and knows how to speak in a language that. Appeals to Donald Trump. He gave him the what was the golden. Is that what it was? You know, at an event at the White House. I mean, you know, I think that every big tech CEO has had to learn how to.

11:29Tim Cook:It was a glass sculpture with a 24-carat gold base. Because I think the glass was the glass. Was it an iPhone? What was it? That they maybe use in their products. Apple-shaped cutout engravings.

11:41John Ternus:The point being that, you know, it's whether it's flattery, whatever it is that, you know, you need to know how to speak the language, kiss the ring, whatever metaphor you want to use. As you said, he's also there's a very delicate balance that he's had to strike with regard to China and India, as we saw first during the pandemic. And then as the the trade war really burst onto the scene in the last several years. And we've learned the risks of over-dependence on one particular area of the world for your supply chain. So Tim Cook has had to navigate, depend more on India, more manufacturing, more production there.

12:27John Ternus:And at the same time, not go so swiftly, so quickly and recklessly that you alienate China, which remains a big, important market. Now, there's also a great deal of competition and competition has been really rising in China for the iPhone over the last several years. And you've seen this whole bunch of new manufacturers there, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, all becoming increasingly important competitors there. But at the same time, iPhone's still popular in many aspects and many parts of the country. and so you don't want to do something that is going to alienate the Chinese. At the same time, you have to diversify your supply chain and that's something that Tim Cook has been doing and it's a juggling act and he'll be able to continue to do that in his new role as executive chairman.

13:24John Ternus:I want to bring in Mandeep Singh.

13:25Tim Cook:Who'd have thunk?

13:26John Ternus:Yeah, I know.

13:26Tim Cook:It was feeling kind of mellow today as we waited for more on the war and then bam.

13:30John Ternus:He's Global Tech Research Head at Bloomberg Intelligence. I think none of us who've been following this or speaking to Mark Gurman and reading Mark's reporting is surprised by John Ternus. We know him thanks to Mark's reporting. I think what we're surprised about is the timing here. What's your reaction?

13:45Tim Cook:Look, I think it was inevitable that there would have been some sort of succession at Apple. And to my mind, appointing the hardware chief as the next CEO makes a ton of sense because this company is still reliant on hardware. At the end of the day, that is what drives that$100 billion in free cash flow that they generate. It's the hardware refreshes. And, you know, they have missed out on the LLM side. There are still questions that need to be answered in terms of what the new CEO strategy will be in terms of AI CapEx and LLMs. But if there was one person internally who would have thought it should have been their hardware chief.

14:28Tim Cook:And so that's a good point. I always think about like the right guy for the right time. And we've been talking a lot about Tim Cook and how he understood the global supply chain, really, and building that. And so that was maybe his tenure. For John Ternus, is it, Mandy, about protecting the hardware and the sales that they've got, and then also trying to figure out how do you expand it? Is that part of what he has to do? Or is it about really just protecting the core here? So look, when Johnny Ive left Apple and he joined OpenAI, there was a lot of speculation around what that new form factor will be on the hardware side when it comes to consuming LLMs on the edge.

15:06Tim Cook:Right now, all the LLMs are running on data centers because they need a lot of power. There will be a point when the LLMs can be distilled and run on device. And that's the time where Apple has to have that perfect form factor. I mean, we know their vertical integration has served them well in terms of having their own chip, making sure the specs are customized to running Apple's operating system. They need to do the same for LLM. And that's where, you know, having somebody who runs the hardware division is the right guy to make that transition. My guess is they will probably be more acquisitive than they have been under Tim Cook.

15:45Tim Cook:Like for what?

15:47John Ternus:What would they buy?

15:47Tim Cook:I mean, there are so many Gen.AI native companies with very, you know, high valuations in the private market. They may have.

15:57John Ternus:Some of those are way too expensive to be bought by anyone. Yeah, look, I mean, a company like. Maybe a perplexity.

16:02Tim Cook:A company like Entropic has seen its valuation double almost, you know, every three months. Yeah. So they are probably out of reach right now. Perplexity? Perplexity, cursor. There are a lot of names that are still in that range where, yes, you may have to end up spending$50 to$100 billion, but there will be consolidation. That's a lot. That's a lot. But look, that's where, because they haven't really invested in their own AI efforts, they will have to acquire it. So that idea of kind of, is it Gemini that they were working on, or is it Google's AI? Not Gemini. Gemini, yeah. That idea of kind of letting them figure it out and then rely on that.