The Apple Insiders in the Running to Succeed Cook

Tim Cook has been running Apple for 13 years, but there has been little public discussion of who may replace him. That is the topic of our big take today. Technology reporter Mark Gurman has been looking at the runners and the riders and joins us now. And I guess the first question that I want to ask you, Mark, is why has this topic emerged now? Why have we already started talking about who’s going to be succeeding? Tim Cook? Yeah, like you said, Tim Cook has been in charge for 13 years now. He’s been at the company for well over 25 years. He’s turning 65 next year. And at this point, he is one of the older CE OS in the S&P 500. Now, there’s no indication that he’s planning to step down anytime soon. He could ultimately be there another seven years or so. I think it’ll be closer to three to five years. Apple’s at a precarious time right now where they need to start looking for what its next big product is going to be. And the succession question is one that it’s come up a few times. For many years it seemed like Jeff Williams, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, was sort of in the on deck circle to take over. They’ve increasingly given him more responsibility, but they have a bit of an age problem. If Cook stays on for another five years, he certainly would have to be replaced by someone who’s a bit younger because they’re not going to appoint a 67 year old as their new CEO. So that points to John Ternitz, the Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, the man you see in the middle there. So this is also coming at a potentially critical time for Apple as well. They’re facing a multitude of issues, be it a slowdown in smartphone sales, some of the headwinds from China, also regulatory headwinds as well when you think about the regulatory scrutiny over their App Store. So to what extent is the decision of who is going to succeed Tim Cook going to be determined by that person’s ability to take ownership for some of those problems and guide the company in the right direction? Well, to be honest with you, the the issues you outlined, which you correctly outlined, those are the big issues that Apple is facing right now. I don’t anticipate the next CEO having to really grapple with any of those problems. I think if those issues are all going to be resolved by then or put in a good place by then, I don’t think Cook is going any way anytime soon. And I anticipate the regulatory problems to be done with within three to four years. I anticipate the the solution to the smartphone conundrum to be resolved within a few years as well. So I think the next CEO is going to have to grapple with a different set of challenges. And I think the big one is where does the company grow from here after the phone. And I think they may want to reconsider getting in back into the automotive business down the road. You have to look at augmented reality glasses. You have to look at artificial intelligence hardware. And so I think the product side, the more fun side, the business is what the next CEO is going to have to focus on. And and John Turnus, who I mentioned, he’s a product person, he’s the Senior VP of hardware engineering in charge of building the iPhone, the iPad, Apple Watch, you name it. And so it would pretty much all align for for him to eventually take over. Yeah, fascinating. Let me just round up by asking you what you think the markets would like to see Do we do you have a sense for what the broader investment community are expecting? I think that Wall Street is quite happy with the returns that is generated from Apple stock under the last 13 years of Tim Cook. I think they would be perfectly happy with Cook sticking around for 50 more years. And not that that’s possible, but the next big thing is someone who operates like Cook, but someone who also can maybe present a new flavor of innovation and additional products that could continue to boost the company’s stock. So I think they’d be happy with Tim Cook forever, but Turn US may be the next best thing, especially with that big 15 year age gap between the two.