Tim Cook Is Stepping Down as Apple CEO in September, to Be Replaced by John Ternus

With today’s news, we can settle a score. In November, four reporters for the Financial Times wrote that Apple was “stepping up its succession planning efforts, as it prepares for Tim Cook to step down as chief executive as soon as next year”: An announcement early in the year would give its new leadership team time to settle in ahead of its big annual keynote events, its developer conference in June and its iPhone launch in September, the people said. Then, in his Bloomberg newsletter a week later, Mark Gurman reported: […] Based on everything I’ve learned in recent weeks, I don’t believe a departure by the middle of next year is likely. In fact, I would be shocked if Cook steps down in the time frame outlined by the FT. Some people have speculated that the story was a “test balloon” orchestrated by Apple or someone close to Cook to prepare Wall Street for a change, but that isn’t the case either. I believe the story was simply false. There are correct elements in both stories: the…