Tim Cook 'probably' leaving Apple in next ten years

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he doesn't expect to remain at the company for the next decade, but isn't planning resignation yet.

During an extensive interview with New York Times writer Kara Swisher, Apple's Tim Cook declined to talk about succession plans, but did address the issue of how long he may continue to lead the company.

Cook is entering his tenth year as CEO at Apple, and in her podcast interview, Swisher asked specifically whether he would still be there in ten more years.

"Ten more years?" said Cook. "Probably not. But I can tell you that I feel great right now and the date is not in sight. But ten more years is a long time — and probably not ten more years."

Swisher asked what plans he had for after he leaves, and what he might do once Apple is behind him.

"I don't have a clue because I love this company so much, that it is hard to imagine my life without it," he said. "And so I don't think I will know that until after I'm not here. Because I think I will run so fast that I'll never really think about it until I'm not running anymore. Does that make any sense?"

Cook's ten year anniversary as CEO is in August. He did run Apple for certain periods during co-founder Steve Jobs's illness. However, he took over permanently in on August 24, 2011.

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29 Comments

radarthekat 3902 comments · 12 Years

About 3 years ago

I bought my first shares on July 1st, 2011, and watched closely the events that unfolded that summer and autumn. I didn’t know much about Tim Cook at the time, having not followed Apple as a potential investment or its products.

It had been nearly 30 years since I played around with the Apple II, back in my Air Force enlisted days (81-85). My whole software career from 1985 to 2010 was on PCs, and I bought my first MacBook Air in 2010 when my PC got a virus that pretty much destroyed all my data, isn’t including a white paper I’d been writing on machine learning for meeting scheduling. Had to write the whole 36 pages again, piecing it back together from my stacks of notes. That was the last straw; I’d had enough of Windows and PCs, and I’ve never looked back.

So coming into that summer of 2011 I had my short experience on the MacBook Air, and an iPod. No other recent experience with Apple products. My career had ended when a new round of investment in my company gave the VCs control and they put in their own management, pushing us founders out. I had a net worth at the time of about $700k, 49 years old, single and with no responsibilities or debts, but nevertheless kinda forced to re-evaluate life. I’d invested as a hobby for 20 years, never making much but even if you break even it’s forced savings. So I asked myself, in Warren Buffett fashion, what’s the best company in tne world and can I get it at a reasonable valuation. Three weeks of research yielded the answer, Apple, at about a 14x multiple and highly profitable by all the normal metrics. The rest is ten years of investing and trading Apple and Apple options. I haven’t worked a job one day of those ten years.

It’s long been clear Tim Cook was the right person to step in for Steve. He’s led with dignity and grace in the face of naysayers, haters and uninformed critics. And his legacy will be as largely written as Steve’s, in my opinion.

mr lizard 354 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

I’d be very surprised if Jeff Williams wasn’t next in line.

I am surprised though that Cook was drawn on this question. Apple’s de facto playbook is to ‘no comment’ absolutely anything they don’t want to discuss. The fact that they entertained this question means they weren’t just happy to answer it, but that they purposefully wanted this information out there.

Rayz2016 6957 comments · 8 Years

About 3 years ago

mr lizard said:

I’d be very surprised if Jeff Williams wasn’t next in line.
I am surprised though that Cook was drawn on this question. Apple’s de facto playbook is to ‘no comment’ absolutely anything they don’t want to discuss. The fact that they entertained this question means they weren’t just happy to answer it, but that they purposefully wanted this information out there.

Well, it’s no surprise that he’s going to retire, but they want to get ahead of the doomsayers by making it known that the company knows he’s going to retire.

My guess is that he’ll step down after the car is released.

thedba 790 comments · 12 Years

About 3 years ago

Rayz2016 said:

mr lizard said:

I’d be very surprised if Jeff Williams wasn’t next in line.
I am surprised though that Cook was drawn on this question. Apple’s de facto playbook is to ‘no comment’ absolutely anything they don’t want to discuss. The fact that they entertained this question means they weren’t just happy to answer it, but that they purposefully wanted this information out there.

Well, it’s no surprise that he’s going to retire, but they want to get ahead of the doomsayers by making it known that the company knows he’s going to retire.
My guess is that he’ll step down after the car is released.

Naaah! He'll retire after the long awaited AirTags. :D

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 3 years ago

"He’s led with dignity and grace in the face of naysayers, haters and uninformed critics”

You mean like most of us who pontificate on these forums? Yep, especially the ‘uniformed critics’ peanut gallery.