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WSJ What’s News

Why Apple Bet on an Engineer to Lead the AI Era

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, News

4.14.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A.M. Edition for April 21. Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down and handing the baton to hardware chief John Ternus. While Cook’s tenure saw the company’s market cap explode to over $3 trillion, WSJ deputy tech editor Bradley Olson says investors will want to see how Ternus handles a late-game pivot to generative AI. Plus, the White House is weighing whether to bail out Spirit Airlines or risk an airline collapse that could spike already high summer travel prices. And how Joe Rogan convinced president Trump to fast-track the review of psychedelic drugs used to treat mental illness. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the 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

A changing of the guard at Apple as hardware engineer John Turnus prepares to steer the company into the AI era.

0:11.0

Plus, Spirit Airlines looks to Washington for a financial lifeline, and the White House gives a boost to the psychedelic drug industry.

0:18.8

A whole slew of company companies been trying to take these

0:21.4

kind of age-old psychedelic drugs like MDMA, LSD, magic mushrooms, and professionalizing them,

0:27.3

turning them into legit treatments for mental illness. And President Trump signed an executive order,

0:33.4

basically telling the FDA to expedite the review of a bunch of these drugs.

0:38.6

It's Tuesday, April 21st. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal,

0:42.3

and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories,

0:47.3

moving your world today.

0:50.9

As we reported yesterday, Apple will be getting a new CEO come September when hardware division

0:57.0

chief John Turnus takes the reins from Tim Cook.

1:00.4

The leadership shakeup is the company's first in 15 years, and comes as some critics

1:04.5

contend that Apple needs to rekindle its innovative fire as its rivals pour resources into

1:09.5

computing infrastructure and AI tools.

1:12.3

And while Ternis will likely feel that pressure, Cook shared this advice for his eventual successor

1:17.6

with journal columnist Ben Cohen in a recent interview.

1:20.4

So I would say, you know, be yourself, keep a firm North Star on the values of the company.

1:30.3

Because if you get the values right,

1:33.3

if you keep the North Star in clear view,

1:37.3

you may be blown off course a little bit,

1:42.3

but eventually you will come back to the right path. And I have always found that

1:49.5

to be true. Ternus's North Star is likely to be product design, having spent the last 25 years

...

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