according to financial TimesTim Cook may step down as Apple CEO early next year. And the board has started working seriously on succession planning. foot says John Ternes, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, is considered the frontrunner for the position.
The rumors of Cook stepping down follow the retirement of Apple COO Jeff Williams, whose last day at the company was Friday. As part of that departure, there has been some shuffling of responsibilities at the executive level, including expanded roles for head of services Eddie Cue, head of software engineering Craig Federighi and Ternus.
Regardless of who takes over as CEO, it’s unlikely it will be someone outside Apple. Tim Cook has previously said there is a strong preference for an internal candidate and that the company has “very detailed succession plans”.