Tim Cook Built the Apple Empire. What's Next for His Successor?

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Business News, News, Daily News

4.2 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After 15 years as the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook announced this week that he will be stepping down. During his tenure, Cook quadrupled Apple’s revenue and transformed the company’s supply chain, building a complex global network that churns out hundreds of millions of devices each year. WSJ’s Rolfe Winkler reports on Cook’s legacy, and the new guy that’s set to replace him. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening: - China and the U.S. Are in a Race for AI Supremacy - The Company Taking on Apple’s Watch Technology Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The first time our colleague Rolf Winkler met Apple CEO Tim Cook,
0:11.1	Rolf was on crutches, and he had his jaw wired shut.
0:15.2	I've told this story to a lot of people years ago.
0:18.3	I was riding the subway late at night with a friend.
0:20.5	We were reading an iPad. A guy runs on the subway, grabs it. I reacted, ran after the guy, stupid. Wow, bold. One of his friends jacked me in the side of my head. And all I remember is crawling around on the ground, looking around for a missing, when it felt like a missing tooth.
0:38.1	Later in the hospital, they told me, oh, no, you're not missing a tooth. That's your jaw broken
0:42.1	in half.
0:44.2	A few days later, Tim Cook came to the Wall Street Journal office for a meeting.
0:48.4	And I planted myself across the table from Tim and said through Jawsware Chut,
0:53.9	Tim, a lot of people are stealing
0:56.2	iPhones. Is there anything you guys can do to try to discourage theft? Like that. And Tim was very,
1:06.2	very nice, and he said something, you know, we take this very seriously and, you know, this is important
1:11.8	to us. Fast forward several years and Rolf's jaw is fully healed. And Tim Cook is about to retire.
1:19.5	The end of an era for Apple, the CEO stepping down, Tim Cook transitioning to the executive chairman.
1:26.5	He stepped into that role nearly 15 years ago,
1:28.9	replacing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
1:31.3	Cook will hand over leadership to John Turnus,
1:33.8	the company's head of hardware engineering.
1:36.9	How big of a deal is this announcement?
1:40.6	Well, you know, if you had to tell me
1:43.4	which CEO job is higher profile in the world, I'm not sure you could name one.
1:53.5	Apple is a unique company. Most of us have multiple Apple devices. Our iPhones are basically a lobe of our brain at this point.
	...

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