Apple’s leadership and compensation filings lay out a clean succession plan: John Ternus will become CEO on September 1, 2026, and Tim Cook will move into the executive chairman role after 15 years as CEO. Those same filings put Ternus’s 2027 target pay at about $58 million, made up of a $3 million salary and a $55 million equity award. Cook’s target is lower, roughly $47 million, with a $2 million salary and $45 million in stock.
Cook could still end up realizing more if Apple stock disappoints. The filings show that 50% of his award is performance-based, compared with 75% of Ternus’s. Taken together, that looks like a pretty direct board message: the new Apple CEO is being paid on shareholder returns, while Cook is being kept close as a source of stability.
Cook’s chairman role won’t be ceremonial. Apple’s compensation filings show that its last non-executive chairman, Art Levinson, made about $560,000, and Cook is expected to stay active on oversight and on Apple’s relationships in Washington and China. That matters as the company faces supply-chain pressure, tighter regulation, and a broader reset.
If you follow Apple, keep an eye on this handoff. Cook’s visibility alone will keep governance questions alive. Supporters will see him as a safety net; critics will warn that he could overshadow Ternus. Ternus’s expected debut of a folding iPhone at Apple’s next launch should offer the clearest early read yet on what the post-Cook era actually looks like.
