Confirming long-standing rumors of Tim Cook's replacement, after hours Apple announced that Tim Cook will step down as CEO and become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directorsm while John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering whose name has been speculated as the next boss of Apple, will become Apple’s next chief executive officer effective on September 1, 2026. The transition was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors.
Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer as he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition. As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world,” said Cook.
Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998 and became CEO in 2011, overseeing the introduction of numerous products and services, including new categories like Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro, and services ranging from iCloud and Apple Pay to Apple TV and Apple Music.
Under Cook, Apple's market cap grew from $350 billion to $4 trillion, more than 1,000% increase; meanwhile revenue quadrupled, from $108 billion in 2011 to $416 billion in 2025. That's a more than 2x Price/Sales expansion under Cook, who showed that you don't need original ideas, you just need cash for buybacks, to be successful as a CEO.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future. I could not be more confident in his abilities and his character, and I look forward to working closely with him on this transition and in my new role as executive chairman.”
“I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple’s mission forward,” said Ternus. “Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor. It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another. I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know that the most talented people on earth are here at Apple, determined to be part of something bigger than any one of us. I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”
Additionally, Arthur Levinson, who has been Apple’s non-executive chairman for the past 15 years, will become its lead independent director on September 1, 2026. Ternus will join the board of directors, also effective September 1, 2026.
“Tim’s unprecedented and outstanding leadership has transformed Apple into the world’s best company. He’s introduced groundbreaking products and services time and again, and his integrity and values are infused into everything Apple does,” said Levinson. “On behalf of the entire board of directors, we are incredibly grateful for his countless contributions to Apple and the world, and we are thrilled he will now be executive chairman. We believe John is the best possible leader to succeed Tim and as he transitions to CEO we know his love of Apple, his leadership, deep technical knowledge, and relentless focus on creating great products will help lead Apple to an extraordinary future.”
“I want to thank Art for the incredible work he has done leading the board of directors for the past 15 years,” said Cook. “I have always found his advice to be invaluable and I appreciate his thoughtfulness and his unwavering dedication to the company. I am grateful he will serve as our lead independent director, and I look forward to working with him in my new role.”
Some more from the press release:
Ternus joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and became a vice president of Hardware Engineering in 2013. He joined the executive team in 2021 as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. Throughout his tenure at Apple, Ternus has overseen hardware engineering work on a variety of groundbreaking products across every category. He was instrumental in the introduction of multiple new product lines, including iPad® and AirPods, as well as many generations of products across iPhone®, Mac®, and Apple Watch.
Ternus’s work on Mac has helped the category become more powerful and more popular globally than at any time in its 40-year history. That includes the recent introduction of MacBook Neo™, an all-new laptop that makes the Mac experience even more accessible to more people around the world. This past fall, his team’s efforts were on full display with the introduction of a redefined iPhone lineup, including the incredibly powerful iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the radically thin and durable iPhone Air™, and the iPhone 17, which has been an incredible upgrade for users. Under his leadership, his team also drove advancements in AirPods to make them the world’s best in-ear headphones, with unprecedented active noise cancellation, as well as the capability to become an all-in-one hearing health system that can serve as over-the-counter hearing aids.
Ternus led much of the company’s focus in areas like reliability and durability, introducing new techniques that have made Apple products remarkably resilient. He has also driven much of Apple’s innovation in materials and hardware design that have reduced the carbon footprint of its products, including the creation of a new, recycled aluminum compound that has been introduced across multiple product lines, the use of 3-D printed titanium in Apple Watch Ultra® 3, and innovations in repairability that have increased the lifespans of several Apple products.
Prior to Apple, Ternus worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Apple stock dumped on the (widely telegraphed) news, then recovered much of the initial drop.
Tyler Durden Mon, 04/20/2026 - 16:46In August 2013, the Justice Department stated in a press release that it was not going to enforce federal law prohibiting the cannabis use in states that were launching recreational cannabis programs at the time, clearing the way for state-by-state marijuana legalization in the United States.
Approximately 12 years down the line, half of Americans live in states where marijuana is legal and another 105 million have access to medical marijuana.
As Statista's Katharina Buchholz details below, this means that 80 percent of U.S. residents now live in a state with some sort of legal weed.
In 2013, it was Colorado and Washington which were gearing up to legalize marijuana after successful ballot initiatives as part of the November 2012 elections.
But the federal government's policy statement was also relevant for another 18 states and the District of Columbia, which at the time had already legalized medical marijuana.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Data from the Census Bureau shows that between 2012 and 2014, a substantial number of people continued to gain access to medical marijuana as larger states like Massachusetts and Illinois passed measures.
After those years, shifts to recreational weed legislation dominate the statistic with significant legalizations in California (2016), Michigan (2018), New Jersey (2020) and New York (2021), effectively lowering the number of people under medical marijuana legislation only.
Despite this, a total of 15 states have passed medical marijuana ballots or legislation after 2015, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Utah and most recently Nebraska.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Texas last year significantly expanded existing laws and is now counted as a medical marijuana state for the purpose of this chart, significantly pushing up the number of Americans under any kind of legal weed law once more.
Tyler Durden Mon, 04/20/2026 - 16:40Authored by James Howard Kunstler,
“It is one thing for the people (of Iran) to be ruled by globally feared autocrats armed to the teeth, but quite another to be governed by humiliated, now impotent incompetents and buffoons.”
- VDH
Wednesday the US / Iran ceasefire expires. It has been an interesting two weeks. The US used it to negotiate an end to hostilities, resupply our ships in the Arabian Sea, do maintenance on our ships and warplanes, dismantle Iran’s banking conduits, and blockade Hormuz to shut down the regime’s remaining income flow. The Iranians used it to jump up and down and go woo-woo-woo. They also tried to dig out the entrances of their bombed caves and tunnels to unearth whatever’s left of their hidden missile launchers. Our satellites watched everything they did and mapped the coordinates.
Negotiations? So far, not fruitful, if termination of hostilities and surrender of Iran’s uranium is the goal. We’re not even sure the Iranians we’re negotiating with have any real authority to make a deal. Iran’s government at this point is a hash of conflicting factions: the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which is a large Jihadi mafia that happens to own half of Iran’s economy and controls its advanced missile and drone weaponry; the regular Army (Artesh) which would theoretically defend against a ground invasion, but otherwise just stands by; and the civilian government represented by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibef — none of whom seem to hold any real decision-making power.
America’s negotiators, led by Veep Vance along with Messrs. Witkoff and Kushner, will land back in Islamabad, Pakistan, today (Monday, April 20).
Our deal is still on the table.
It’s pretty straightforward:
the aforementioned uranium plus a twenty-year halt of nuclear activities with no path toward a weapon;
full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz;
an end to Iranian support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis;
phased-out sanctions and access to frozen assets;
and cessation of hostilities.
Events over the weekend argue that Iran is not finished playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes.
They tried to run the Hormuz blockade on Sunday with an incoming cargo ship, the Iranian-flagged M/V Touska. The USS destroyer Spruance, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, blew a hole clean through its engine room and then seized the vessel. Its cargo remains undisclosed for now.
Iran claims that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz. The US said it was already closed via the US blockade (we closed it harder). Iran can’t surreptitiously move any oil out to sell to China or run supplies into the country. Iran will lose about $500-million a day and China will lose the majority of its oil imports. China will jump up and down and go woo-woo-woo over that, while the IRGC will lose its last remaining income stream, meaning no pay for anyone. Let’s see if that prompts an attitude change.
If Iran can’t move its oil, it will soon reach the limit of its oil storage capacity, meaning it will have to shut down its oil wells.
If that happens, the hydrology is such that water invasion of the underground strata will permanently damage the oil fields. Iran is between a rock and a squishy place.
That might be enough to force a deal in the hours ahead.
President Trump has made it clear that the time for Iran jerking-around the US is over.
So then, it’s back to Power Station and Bridge Day (blowing them up).
That would be extremely unfortunate for the ordinary Iranian people.
They are unarmed and helpless to resist the maniacs of the IRGC who would allow Power Station and Bridge Day to happen, who, in effect, don’t really care about the ordinary people of Iran.
However, the regular Iranian army, the Artesh, does have weapons (they are the army and armies are generally armed).
Perhaps they will use them to put the insane jihadi IRGC out of business.
After all, the Artesh’s mission is defense on-the-ground of the Iranian homeland, and just now the biggest threat to Iran is the IRGC.
I guess we’ll have to wait on that and watch.
Meanwhile, interesting developments back on America’s home front: All of a sudden, pieces are moving around the game-board of the ongoing and long-running color revolution that the Trump administration is trying to stop.
By color revolution I mean the Democratic Party and its Deep State cadres’ efforts to transform our country into a matrix of crypto-Marxist racketeering operations — and to evade responsibility for the damage already perpetrated dating back to at least 2016.
The FBI Director, Kash Patel, said explicitly on Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning news show that his agency has amassed hard evidence of fraud in the 2020 elections and to expect arrests presently.
(Hmmmm, maybe not so “baseless” after all.)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has prepared to move Colorado political prisoner Tina Peters out of the state lockup and under protection in a federal facility.
It is rumored that the move is due to Ms. Peters’ imminent transformation into a witness for a federal case against Colorado election officials.
AG Blanche has also hired Joseph diGenova, former US Attorney for the DC District, as an assisting counsel to US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones in the Southern District of Florida, who, as you know, is running a grand jury down there.
Mr. diGenova, 81, has mapped the events and time-lines necessary to make a solid “grand conspiracy” case against the well-known posse of color revolutionists who perpetrated a series of hoaxes, frauds, and malicious prosecutions on our country and on thousands of innocent citizens (including the current occupant of the White House and his lawyers and associates). Like I said, things get interesting-er.
Tyler Durden Mon, 04/20/2026 - 16:20