It's time to thank Tim Cook for his "service" as he steps down as CEO of Apple $AAPL in a few hours. Thanks, Tim!
Apple was the first stock I ever bought in my life. I held it for barely a few minutes and sold it immediately with a cent profit. Was that foolish? Absolutely. The transaction fee was, of course, much higher. But the euphoria of that first trade was stronger.
I've been using several Apple products for many years and I'm a satisfied customer. No wonder, since the outgoing CEO built a "walled garden" around these products.
Let's look at the tenure of this CEO who transformed Apple into one of the most valuable companies on the planet.
When Cook took over from Steve Jobs in August 2011, $AAPL had a market cap of around $350 billion. Today he leaves the CEO position of a company worth $4.67 trillion. Tomorrow the chief will be John Ternus, the current vice president of hardware, who has been with Apple since 2001.
The numbers that define the Cook era
In fiscal year 2011, Apple had revenue of roughly $108 billion. Over the last twelve months, it's $466.8 billion. Net margin is 27.5%, return on equity an absurd 148%. Under Cook, Apple didn't invent a second iPhone, but it built an ecosystem around it that no one could copy. The Services segment—App Store, iCloud, advertising, and subscriptions—runs at an annual pace of over $120 billion and is the most profitable part of the business. That is Cook's true legacy. He wasn't a visionary like Steve Jobs; he was and is above all a great businessman.
How the new CEO takes over
Ternus takes over at a moment when the market is asking a single question: can Apple catch up in artificial intelligence? At WWDC26 the company introduced a completely new Siri AI, iPhone 18 Pro arrives September 9th, and according to expectations the first foldable model. I'm very curious about that, because in my opinion Apple needs to come up with something truly top-notch.
And now something about the new CEO
John Ternus is an engineer and product person, which signals where Apple will be heading. Bank of America $BAC confirmed its buy rating before the leadership change, saying Ternus will likely significantly increase the AI budget.
What's next for Cook?
Cook isn't leaving the company. He remains as executive chairman of the board and keeps managing relations with the Trump administration and the Chinese government.
The part of Apple that carries the greatest risk and that Cook managed better than anyone for fifteen years thus remains in his hands.
Do you own $AAPL shares, use the company's products, or do you stay away from both the products and the stock?
