Who will be Apple's next CEO? Dark horse surfaced: 49 years old, "Cook likes him very much"

Chengdu Business Daily Red Star News

2024-05-12 22:15Published on the official account of Red Star News of Chengdu Business Daily, Sichuan

With Apple CEO Tim Cook approaching his 64th birthday in November, speculation is heating up about who will succeed the tech giant at the helm. According to reports, John Tenus, 49's senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple, has become the strongest candidate for the next CEO.

▲ John Tenus

On November 21 last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company had made a "very detailed" succession plan for his successor, and he decided to pick a successor within the company. Cook admits that he doesn't know how long he'll be with Apple. Looking back on his 25 years at Apple, Cook said, "I love it here, I can't imagine life without Apple, so I'll be here for a while." ”

Several Apple insiders revealed that a few years ago, the company's chief operating officer Jeff Williams has been regarded as Cook's best successor, but this year's 61-year-old Williams is only 2 years younger than Cook, if he takes over as CEO, Apple will soon face the problem of "changing the commander" again, not to mention Cook's "close friends" said that Cook may be the CEO for at least another 3 years.

Insiders say that Apple's board of directors is now hoping to find a "candidate who will stay in the CEO role for more than 10 years." Today, the 49-year-old is Apple's next CEO "most likely successor," with recognition within the company and a potential retention for the long term, and there are signs that he is "being groomed to be Cook's successor," the analysis said.

He has been with Apple for 23 years

In 1997, John Tenus received his degree in Engineering Science and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and in the same year joined Virtual Research, a display provider specializing in professional simulation training and virtual reality applications, as an engineer. But the experience didn't last a few years.

In 2001, Tenus officially joined Apple and has been an integral part of its development team ever since. Over the past 23 years, Tenus has steadily risen through the ranks, initially working on external displays for Macs, and then overseeing key product lines such as iPhones and iPads. Later, he gradually took on the responsibility of the entire iPad product line, followed by the Mac, AirPods, and in 2020, the iPhone.

Ten years ago, Tenus joined Apple's board of directors and later served as the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering. Recently, the Apple Watch hardware engineering team started reporting to Tenus instead of Williams.

In recent years, Tenus's presence at Apple has become more and more apparent, and has been favored by Cook and others. One source said, "Cook liked him very much (Tenus). Christopher Stringer, Apple's former top hardware designer, also called Tenus a "trustworthy man" who never failed in any of his promotions.

Every spring, Apple hosts the so-called "Top 100" event. It is a private executive event, usually held in California, that brings together the most important people in the company. In March of this year, Tenus personally hosted Apple's technology roadmap presentation, becoming a "prominent role" at the event. The hint is very clear, according to a person familiar with the matter: "He is being cultivated. ”

There are many similarities with Cook

According to sources, there is a degree of similarity between Cook and Tenus.

According to two sources close to Apple's top executives, Mr. Cook spoke highly of Mr. Tenus, praising his presentation and calm demeanor, as well as his style of "never making promises in emails" and "being very cautious in making decisions." One of the sources noted: "He (Tenus) has a lot in common with Cook in terms of personality. ”

Eddie Cooy, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, is one of Cook's most trusted partners and is known as "Cook's closest confidant", and his opinion is very important to Apple's top management. Tenus earned Kuy's high praise. According to people familiar with the matter, Cue told colleagues in a private conversation that "Tenus should be the next CEO." ”

The analysis notes that Tenus is "popular within Apple." In addition to key figures like Cook and Cuoy, colleagues who have worked with Tenus say he was able to bridge the gap between the hardware and software teams and help the two sides work more closely together. He is also said to be hands-on, deeply involved in product development, working directly with engineers to solve problems.

There are no obvious opponents in the succession "race".

Some analysts believe that if Apple's future plan is to find a leader who can serve as CEO for a long time, then there are not many internal successors that Apple can consider.

One of Tenus's strengths is that, according to the latest analysis, other potential "young" (no more than 60) contenders – Craig Federigi (55) and Deirdre O'Brien (58) – are excluded: Federigi, senior vice president of software engineering, despite his charisma, seems to lack the necessary skills to succeed Cook; O'Brien, senior vice president of retail, was once seen as the "future CEO," but he also failed to meet the criteria for a successor.

Another key factor is that Tenus is now 49 years old, which makes him "more likely to be long-term than other members of the executive team," such as Phil Schiller.

From the post-Jobs era to the early Cook era, Schiller has been one of Apple's most influential and iconic figures, with his contributions focused on marketing. However, in 2020 Schiller became an Apple researcher, which usually means that he is about to retire. He is now 63 years old and may announce his retirement at any time.

There are still several obstacles to becoming a successor

But things may not be as smooth as some have speculated. On Tenus's quest to become the "helmsman" of Apple, several obstacles are emerging.

First, the business area he is responsible for does not seem to have sufficient strategic and global reach at the moment. While the importance of the hardware division cannot be overlooked, and Tenus is commendable in this area, it is less relevant than those that have a direct impact on the company's global value, such as marketing, service, operations or finance.

Some analysts believe that this is the significant difference between Tenus and Cook - Cook was Jobs' right-hand man before becoming CEO, responsible for Apple's global operations. Under his leadership, Apple's market value soared, becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world and the first company to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion.

In addition to the issue of influence in the field, Tenus has also been questioned that it is "not at the heart of many of Apple's major product initiatives in recent years." For example, although Tenus was involved in the subsequent development of the Apple Watch, he did not make a significant contribution to the smart home strategy. In addition, his image was tarnished by his missteps on the Touch Bar project, where the touchscreen display above the keyboard of the MacBook Pro was not well received by customers after its launch and eventually had to be discontinued after 5 years.

"Tenus is a great guy, but honestly he's still young." A person close to Apple said Mr. Tenus came across more like a member of a team than an elegant executive or controller, "preferably dominating as CEO of a trillion-dollar company." Another person familiar with the matter pointed out that the fundamental question is whether Tenus is ready to take over as CEO.

Red Star News reporter Deng Shuyi

Editor: Pan Li, Editor-in-charge: Li Binbin

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