John Ternus’ first CEO memo to team Apple
For the record, here is incoming Apple CEO, John Ternus’ first memo to Apple staff, shared September 1, 2026. You can read former CEO, Tim Cook’s final staff memo here.
What Ternus said
“Team,
Today, on my first day as CEO, I just wanted to send a quick note to thank everyone for the warm wishes. I also want to extend my deep appreciation to Tim for sharing so much of his knowledge and experience during this transition, and more importantly, for everything he contributed to Apple over the years. We’re so lucky to have had a CEO who led with his values and with such decency and humanity. We are all better for it, and I’m so grateful he’ll be our executive chairman.
I’m honored to be stepping into this role at what is truly the greatest company in the world, and I am so excited about everything we have in store. We have a huge launch next week that’s going to be phenomenal. Thanks for everything you’ve all done to make it possible.
I’m just as excited about what lies beyond that, including the incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet that we’ll dream up and create together. There’s no team in the world I’d rather build the future with.
More to come. In the meantime, thanks for your excellent work!
John”
Tim Cook remains on call
Apple’s former CEO, Tim Cook remains part of the company as he now leads the Board of Directors. An Apple filing reveals that Ternus’ target compensation in his role sits at $58 million, while Cook now takes home a potential $47 million in his new role. Those figures include salaries at $3 million and $2 million, respectively.
Johny Srouji is now Apple’s Chief Hardware Officer, while engineering VP and Ternus lieutenant Laura Legros is returning to Apple. Mark Gurman describes Legros as an incoming ‘Chief of Staff’ for Ternus.
Additional changes in leadership are taking place across the company currently, even while Apple gets ready for next week’s iPhone launches.
You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky, LinkedIn, Mastodon and subscribe to The Core.
