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.

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Top Rated Comments

Acidsplat

10 weeks ago

Please bring back live events, John.

Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Gloor

10 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)