Apple Holds Farewell Party for Tim Cook as Ternus Prepares to Take Over

Monday August 24, 2026 12:58 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Tim Cook will step down as Apple's CEO on Tuesday, September 1, and ahead of that date, Apple hosted a farewell party for him. According to The Information, the party took place on August 23, just a day before Cook celebrated his 15th anniversary as Apple CEO.

tim cook wwdc 2026
Approximately 200 people celebrated Cook at the Caffé Macs cafeteria on the Apple campus, and band OneRepublic performed. Several speakers shared tributes to Cook, including Steve Jobs' wife Laurene Powell Jobs, former Apple COO Jeff Williams, Apple services chief Eddy Cue, and incoming CEO John Ternus.

.@OneRepublic at Apple Park Cupertino HQ with outgoing Apple CEO @tim_cook 📷 Brody Harper pic.twitter.com/LSqtAidmBJ — OneRepublic News (@1RNews) August 24, 2026

Cook is not leaving Apple, despite the party. Next Tuesday, he will become Apple's executive chairman, where he will "assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world." Cook will spend less time in the spotlight in his new role.

Ternus has been at Apple since 2001, serving as senior vice president of hardware engineering since 2021. Apple's September iPhone event will be his first major product launch as CEO.

Insiders at Apple told The Information that continuity is the focus of the transition from Cook to Ternus, with few things to change. Cook's executive assistant will stay on and work for Ternus.

Tag: Tim Cook

Popular Stories

Tim Cook Explains Why He Stepped Down as Apple CEO Before iPhone Duo Launch

Thursday October 8, 2026 11:05 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

The Independent's David Phelan on Wednesday interviewed Apple's executive chairman Tim Cook at Apple's U.K. headquarters in the Battersea Power Station, and one of the topics they discussed was John Ternus taking over as Apple's CEO. Ternus, who was previously Apple's hardware engineering chief, succeeded Cook as Apple's CEO on September 1. Cook said the transition "started years ago."...

• 35 comments

Full iPhone 4 'Antennagate' Q&A Video Surfaces After 16 Years

Thursday September 24, 2026 5:39 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

A 47-minute video of the Q&A session from Apple's 2010 iPhone 4 "antennagate" press conference has surfaced on YouTube, showing Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, and Bob Mansfield answering reporters' questions. The recording was highlighted by Daring Fireball's John Gruber, who attended the event. Apple called the July 16, 2010 press conference amid complaints that holding the iPhone 4 in a particular...

• 87 comments

Tim Cook Says He's 'Not Meddling' With Apple's New CEO John Ternus

Thursday October 8, 2026 11:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

In his new role as the executive chairman of Apple's board of directors, Tim Cook told The Independent's David Phelan that he is "not meddling" with Apple's new CEO John Ternus. "First of all, John and I have an incredible level of trust in each other," said Cook. "The relationship must be based on trust, and the communication must be frequent and significant. But other than that, what I'm...

• 54 comments

Top Rated Comments

Acidsplat

8 weeks ago

Please bring back live events, John.

Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Gloor

8 weeks ago

I can see so many ungrateful people here. Tim was extraordinarily person that took Apple to a stratosphere. Sure, not everything was successful but he did amazing job. He was probably the best person to take after Steve Jobs and his angle worked really well (especially if you bought the stock).
I think it will be interesting to see what John Ternus will do but we can't really say that Tim was bad. His results speak for itself.

And to those petty people that can't see the bigger picture - get outside sometimes, it will do you good. Or even better, show us how you managed to drive another company with amazing success because anyone can complain.
Isn't it funny that the people that complain the most are usually the least successful one? Kinda shows a lot!

Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)