Tim Cook Reflects on His Legacy as He Steps Back From Apple's Top Job

Tim Cook is closing out one of the most successful runs in corporate history, and he's using his final months as Apple's CEO to reflect on what it all meant. In a new interview, Cook sat down with CBS News' Jo Ling Kent to talk about Apple's renewed push into American manufacturing and, more personally, what he thinks he's stood for after nearly 15 years running the company.

Here's the backstory: Cook took over as CEO in 2011, right after Steve Jobs stepped down (Jobs passed away just weeks later). That meant Cook had the nearly impossible job of following a legend. By most financial measures, he crushed it. Under his leadership, Apple's market value has surged roughly $3.6 trillion over the course of Cook's tenure as CEO. He also built out the services side of the business — think Apple Pay, Apple TV, and Apple Music — into services including Apple Pay, Apple TV and Apple Music, which generate more than $100 billion a year for the firm. Apple's yearly profit hit $112 billion in net income for the fiscal year ending in September 2025, which was eight times what Apple saw in September 2010.

Now the handoff is official: Tim Cook will step down as Apple's CEO later this year and be replaced by John Ternus, a senior vice president of hardware engineering... Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors, replacing Arthur Levinson... Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran, will assume the role of CEO on September 1. It's a similar move to what Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings did — transitions made by Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Netflix's Reed Hastings after they ended their highly successful tenures as CEO — meaning Cook isn't disappearing, he's just moving to the background.

So why should you care if you're not an Apple shareholder? Because Cook's Apple is basically woven into your daily life — the phone in your pocket, the watch on your wrist, the way you pay for coffee. Whoever runs that company next shapes what your tech looks like for the next decade, especially as Apple races to catch up in AI and reportedly preps its first foldable iPhone.

As for how Cook wants to be remembered, he's staying humble about it. In a separate interview, Cook said he doesn't want to try to define his own legacy — he says others will define it for him, but that he hopes he'll be seen as a "good and decent man." He's not sticking around entirely, either — he'll keep a hand in things as executive chairman, continuing to assist with select company matters, with a particular focus on engagement with global policymakers. Apple's board didn't waver on the pick, either: the transition was approved unanimously by Apple's board of directors after a "thoughtful, long-term succession planning process."