Who will become the next Apple CEO?

Tram Ho

At the end of September last year, some sources revealed that Apple introduced a $ 76 million stock option to keep Tim Cook in position until 2025. Before that, in August 2020, Tim Cook marked 10 years of career as a “captain” to lead Apple.

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The brightest candidates take over as CEO of Apple.

However, in a recent interview, Tim Cook revealed he could leave the chair of Apple CEO ahead of time. This information attracts the attention of public opinion and what is concerned about is who will become Tim Cook’s successor in the next term.

The most important factor to becoming an Apple CEO?

In March 1998, Steve Jobs selected Tim Cook, then 37 years old, as Apple’s Senior Vice President of Global Operations with a suggested salary of $ 400,000 and a contract bonus of $ 500,000. Cook’s main task was to completely revamp the chaotic production and distribution of Apple at the time.

More than 10 years later, Tim Cook used Apple’s global market value to prove he was one of Steve Jobs’s most successful recruits. Many people believe that Jobs chose Cook to take over the CEO position because he appreciated his calm personality, broad vision and excellent abilities.

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Steve Jobs and Tim Cook

Of course, Tim Cook also has his own secret to success, based on three aspects including problem understanding, supply chain management and the right strategy to revive Apple. All 3 factors are important, but ranked number 1 is experience in supply chain management.

Many people may not realize that for a mature company like Apple, the most important thing is not the product, but the logistics, efficient supply chain, distribution, finance and marketing. Cook proved his extraordinary talent in these fields, “which is quoted in” Tim Cook’s Biography “.

From that perspective, the person responsible for Tim Cook’s successor is Jeff Williams, now the COO of Apple, responsible for overseeing the entire global business operations and customer service support, quite similar to the location. Former CEO of Tim Cook.

In 2015, when Jeff Williams was appointed COO, it was widely reported that this was the candidate chosen by Tim Cook to become his successor. ” Jeff Williams is a suitable candidate for the CEO position of Apple “, analyst Tim Bajarin from CreativeStrategies said. Although this COO rarely appears in the media, according to Bloomberg, Williams is a humble leader and has many similarities with Tim Cook.

In fact, many people also comment happily that Williams is “imitation version” of Cook both in working style and lifestyle. In everyday life, the two are quite close. The similarity of management styles can make Apple shareholders feel more secure when assigning responsibilities to ensure that the company maintains a stable operating trajectory.

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Even looks are somewhat similar

Additionally, Williams and Cook are surprisingly consistent about their adult experience. Both grew up in the southern United States, both have a bachelor’s degree in engineering and both hold an MBA from Duke University.

Prior to joining Apple, Williams worked for IBM for a long time, possibly 13 years. The two moved to Apple together in 1998. Since then, Williams took on the role of Apple Global Procurement Manager, responsible for product planning, purchasing, and logistics.

It can be said that the two are very similar in many respects. Cook also praised his colleague’s managerial abilities: ” Williams is the best operating CEO I’ve ever worked with .” While Cook does a very good job as CEO based on his technical background, this gives him considerable control and thinking about hardware products. So did Williams, who even had richer hardware and software design experience than Cook.

The classic design of the iPhone 4’s double-sided glass was inseparable from Williams’ leading involvement. In addition, the development of a number of popular product lines such as the iPad, iPod and Mac also made an important contribution to Williams. With the ability to cooperate and operate the outstanding supply chain, Williams was evaluated by Fortune in 2011 as: “Tim Cook” by Tim Cook.

In the days that followed as CEO – COO, Williams led the evolution of the Apple Watch lineup, and the device’s market performance was all too clear.

Williams is the brightest candidate for the next CEO position. But some people worry that by 2025, Williams will be 62. Will he still have enough energy and ready to take on the responsibility or not?

Younger candidate

A few years ago, there were rumors that Angela Ahrendts, then senior vice president of retail at Apple, was a highly likely candidate to take over the lead position of Apple. Angela Ahrendts has moved from Burberry to Apple and is in charge of the online store business and retail field, this is the most senior female employee of the “Apple family” with a salary of up to 26.5 million USD, higher compared to Cook’s $ 15.7 million.

However, the “rumored successor” chose to quit the game and quit Apple in 2019.

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If Jeff Williams is concerned about his age in taking over Cook, then John Ternus has the upper hand.

After the departure of Angela Ahrendts, Apple began to focus more attention on potential candidates for the next CEO position, and John Ternus is a potential face. Although John Ternus’s personal information has not been released, it is reported that he is about a dozen years younger than Jeff Williams.

Since joining Apple in 2001, Tenus has made a number of outstanding achievements in hardware engineering, including the first generation of AirPods and previous generations of iPads. In April 2021, Tenus was promoted to Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, reporting directly to Cook. Currently, Tenus is in charge of all of Apple’s hardware engineering, including product lines such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods.

John Ternus is the leader in the development of the iPhone 12 and the highly-appreciated M1 chip, once praised by Tim Cook: “ Tenus’s deep expertise and extensive experience will make him a a bold and visionary leader in Apple’s hardware engineering team ”.

Despite little operating experience, his accumulation in the hardware field and position at Apple still help John Ternus become the next CEO. After all, just like Steve Jobs had a background in hardware, and the COO could also be responsible for assisting with many operational issues. In addition, the current supply chain of Apple has matured, if becoming CEO, John Ternus no longer have to worry like when Cook was “wet feet” to Apple.

Going forward, Apple’s focus will be on augmented reality and health-supporting service features. Both Jeff Williams, John Ternus have advantages in these areas and it is likely that 1 in 2 will become the successor to the CEO position of Tim Cook.

 

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Source : Genk