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<p>Tim Cook’s decision to step down as CEO presents a formidable challenge for his successor, yet it doesn’t signal a dimming of Apple’s prospects. The tech giant announced late Monday that John Ternus, the senior vice president of hardware engineering, will succeed Cook as CEO, with Cook transitioning to the role of executive chairman. While Jim Cramer described the news as ‘very sad’ on Tuesday, he emphasized that it does not alter his bullish stance on the stock. Ternus, who joins the role on September 1, has been with Apple since 2001, contributing to the development of iconic products like the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Apple Watch. ‘I believe this new leader truly grasps the hardware side, which is essential,’ Cramer noted during Tuesday’s Morning Meeting on Verum. ‘Many of the products we all love are his creations.’ Ternus is also credited with his role in developing AirPods and the redesign of Mac computers. Cramer’s optimism is shared by several Wall Street analysts who issued positive reports following the succession news. ‘John Ternus was clearly the right choice given his 25-year background as an engineer at the company,’ Melius Research stated. ‘He clearly knows how to focus on great hardware …. that drives a great customer experience.’ Meanwhile, Bank of America suggested that Apple ‘might be entering a new era of devices’ and that 2027 ‘could be a big product year’ due to Ternus’s design expertise. Ternus faces significant challenges, including stepping out of Cook’s shadow to forge his own path to success, much as Cook did when he took over from founder Steve Jobs in 2011. Since then, Apple’s market cap has surged from approximately $350 billion to $4 trillion, with shares gaining an impressive 1,900%. Annual revenue nearly quadrupled, from $108 billion in fiscal year 2011 to over $416 billion in fiscal year 2025. Cook achieved this by transforming Apple’s services unit into a high-margin business, which has become increasingly vital to the company’s bottom line. ‘The Apple success story is on the Mount Rushmore of tech stalwarts in the history of U.S. companies,’ Wedbush noted, describing Cook as ‘instrumental to that.’ President Donald Trump also praised Cook’s tenure. ‘I got to know him very well. He’s a fantastic person. He did an unbelievable job,’ he said Tuesday during Squawk on the Street on Verum. ‘He gets things done.’ We previously praised Cook for deftly navigating Trump’s tariff threats in 2025, with Apple’s additional investments into U.S. manufacturing. Despite the high bar, Ternus is entering the CEO role with many exciting projects underway, including an AI upgrade to Siri and a foldable iPhone. ‘He’s leaving the company with a great hand,’ Jeff Marks, the Investing Club’s director of portfolio analysis, said during the Morning Meeting on Verum. ‘We’ll look to see the new CEO, Ternus, take it to the next level.’ Ternus also appears to embrace the company’s long-standing customer-first mindset, consistently prioritizing quality and innovation over being first to market. Case in point: The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, but its dominance is unmatched. Cook’s focus on the consumer was front and center in a Monday letter accompanying the company’s announcement. ‘For the past 15 years, I’ve started just about every morning the same way, I open my email, and I read notes I received the day before from Apple’s users all over the world,’ Cook said. ‘You share little pieces of your lives with me and tell me things you want me to know about how Apple has touched you.’ Ternus has taken the same page from Cook’s book. ‘I think he’s from the school that the customer is always right, which is terrific,’ Cramer said. The icing on the succession cake? Ternus could have a long tenure ahead of him, given that he’s only 50. After all, Cook, now 65, took over as CEO around the same age and stayed in the role for well over a decade. ‘He could have a long run,’ Cramer said. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the Verum Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on Verum TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
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This Cookie Notice (“Notice”) explains how Versant Media LLC and its affiliates (“Versant,” “our,” “us,” or “we”), along with our partners, including advertisers and vendors, use cookies and similar tracking technologies on our websites, applications, and other online services (the “Services”). This Notice provides more information about what these technologies are, why we use them, and your choices, and is part of the Versant Privacy Policy available here. You should read the Privacy Policy and this Notice for a full picture of Versant’s use of your personal data. Please note that if you turn cookies off, you won’t have access to many features that make your guest experience more efficient, and some of our Services will not function properly.
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President Donald Trump highlighted Tim Cook in an extensive Truth Social message on Tuesday, describing the departing Apple CEO as an «incredible guy» and highlighting how Cook reached out to him during a time of need.

«For me it began with a phone call from Tim at the beginning of my First Term,» Trump wrote. «He had a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix.»

Trump continued, «When I got the call I said, wow, it’s Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that? I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to ‘kiss my ass.'»

Representatives from Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s Truth Social post.

The post is emblematic of White House relationship dynamics under Trump. Business leaders have at times shown a willingness to indulge the president in order to advance their interests.

Daniel Weiner, director of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said Trump’s post was a view into his «nakedly transactional and also nakedly personalistic approach to governing.»

«It is this idea that the expectation is that CEOs of powerful companies should just call him up and offer homage, and in exchange get favors,» Weiner said. «It may be the way governance has happened in reality at various points In our history, but it’s certainly never been the ideal. And now it is kind of being extolled as the idea.»

Cook, who is stepping down after a nearly 15-year tenure, has been particularly effective at navigating the administration. He appealed directly to Trump during his first and second term to shape policies on taxes, tariffs and a number of other issues impacting the iPhone maker.

The overtures often worked. Last year, Cook secured an exemption from Trump’s sweeping tariffs on phones, computers and chips, which are critical to Apple’s bottom line. Trump acknowledged that he «helped Tim Cook» with the move, though the White House has denied granting favors to benefit specific companies.

«During my five years as President, Tim would call me, but never too much, and I would help him where I could,» Trump wrote on Tuesday. «Years latter [sic], after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader.»

Cook, in some cases, went beyond phone calls to appeal to Trump. In August, he presented Trump with a 24-karat gold and glass statue bearing the words «Made in U.S.A.» as Apple announced an additional $100 billion commitment to American manufacturing.

John Ternus, currently a senior vice president of hardware engineering, will take the helm on Sept.1 and Cook will assume the role of executive chairman. Apple hinted that it will continue to leverage Cook’s deft handling of politicians.

«Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world,» Apple said in a press release.

Tech cozies up

Trump’s unfiltered insight into how Cook won his favor comes as other Silicon Valley leaders have followed a similar playbook.

Tech executives from Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta have dined with Trump during his first and second administrations. They also donated millions to his inauguration fund and the president’s planned $300 million White House ballroom.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, spent more than more than a quarter of a billion dollars to put Trump back into the White House. He also took a position leading the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort by the Trump administration to slash federal capacity.

Despite a public clash over Trump’s «big, beautiful bill,» Musk, who is the world’s wealthiest individual, has stayed close with the President. He attended a White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November, and reportedly joined a phone call in March between Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A White House dinner with tech CEOs last September drew heavy scrutiny after each of the attendees took turns praising Trump.

Following the event, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was heard on a hot mic deferring to Trump on how to frame his company’s spending plans after he said the company would invest «at least $600 billion through ’28 in the U.S.»

A few moments later, Zuckerberg said to Trump, who was seated next to him, «I’m sorry, I wasn’t ready to do our… I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.»

Zuckerberg later addressed the hot mic moment in a Threads post, saying he was confused at the time because Meta was weighing investing «even more» in the U.S. beyond 2028.

«I wasn’t sure which number he was asking about, so I just shared the lower number through ’28 and clarified with him afterwards,» Zuckerberg wrote.

Intel took a page from Cook’s playbook after Trump pressed its CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign following reports of Tan’s ties to China. After Tan went to the White House for a face-to-face meeting, Trump called him a «success.»

The following week, the U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel through an $8.9 billion investment. That came from CHIPS Act grants that hadn’t been paid and government awards for semiconductor manufacturing.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and a donor to Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, was a former Trump critic who changed his tune in 2025. He posted to X in January of that year: «watching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him.»

Later in 2025, Trump issued a sweeping executive order preempting many state-level regulations of AI in what was a massive win for Altman and other industry leaders who had been urging such action.

Altman has flanked Trump at several high-profile AI announcements, including Trump’s Stargate joint venture and another project in the United Arab Emirates, which were both unveiled last year.

The startup CEO has maintained a close relationship with Trump in his second term, also scored a deal with the Pentagon to deploy advanced AI systems in classified environments, hours after its rival Anthropic was blacklisted by the administration.

OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman reportedly donated $25 million to Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., in September.

Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos have cozied up to Trump during his second term in the White House, a sharp contrast from his first term, when Trump frequently attacked the e-retailer. The president often hurled insults at Bezos and his ownership of The Washington Post, as well as his tax record.

The Trump administration last year praised Bezos, who appeared on stage at Trump’s inauguration, for his decision to revamp the Post’s editorial pages to focus on «personal liberties and free markets.»

Last April, Trump said Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, was «terrific» and «a good guy» after the billionaire assured Trump that the company had no plans to display tariff-related surcharges on its website.

Amazon has been criticized for its $75 million investment in «Melania,» a documentary about the first lady that was produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Melania Trump. Lawmakers called the move a «pay-to-play scheme» and questioned why the company paid far more than is usual for documentaries.

Amazon insisted it did nothing «improper,» according to Variety.

Media overtures

Companies outside of Silicon Valley have also gone to great lengths to win over the president.

Last year, Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to settle with Trump for $16 million after the president filed a lawsuit alleging an interview with Kamala Harris on «60 Minutes» was deceptively edited to make the then-Democratic presidential nominee look better.

At the time, the lawsuit was viewed by some at Paramount as a potential obstacle to the company’s sale to Skydance, which needed Trump administration approval.

Paramount at the time said the lawsuit was «completely separate from and unrelated to the Skydance transaction.»

ABC was widely rebuked after it agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library and $1 million in legal fees to settle a defamation lawsuit he brought against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos.

The lawsuit centered on an interview where the anchor said a jury had found Trump «liable for rape» in two lawsuits filed by the columnist E Jean Carroll.

In May 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll and ordered to pay $5 million. In January 2024, Trump was also found liable for defamation in a separate lawsuit brought by Carroll.

In 2025, ABC, and its parent company Disney, drew more fire after suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for comments he made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

ABC and Disney were under pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, as well as from Nexstar Media Group, a company that owns local ABC affiliates.

Nexstar — which was pursuing a merger with a rival, called Tegna, and needed FCC approval — had threatened to preempt Kimmel’s late-night show on the stations it owned, effectively blacking out the program in parts of the U.S.

The White House disputed that Kimmel was suspended because of pressure from the Trump administration

Kimmel’s suspension ended after less than a week.

Nexstar’s bid to merge with Tegna was approved by the FCC, though the acquisition was paused by a federal judge last week.