GoKawiilAfter 15 years at the helm, Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO of Apple and handing over the reins to the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011 and went on to transform Apple into a powerhouse worth $4 trillion.
With his time as CEO coming to an end on September 1, let’s take a look at some of the highlights of Cook’s 15 years as the leader of one of the most influential companies in the world.
Financial growth
Apple was already an influential company when Cook took the reins, but under his leadership, the company’s market capitalization increased tenfold. When Cook took over in August 2011, Apple was valued at just under $350 billion. The company passed $1 trillion in 2018, $2 trillion in 2020, $3 trillion in 2022, and $4 trillion in 2025. Now, the tech giant currently sits at $4.01 trillion.
The tech giant reported $112 billion in net income for the fiscal year ending in September 2025, which was eight times what Apple saw in September 2010. The company was able to achieve that 699% increase despite many issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Cook, who was formerly chief operations officer and credited as the brains behind Apple’s global supply chain under Steve Jobs, expanded Apple’s reach in China and added roughly 200 stores to the company’s global network during his tenure as CEO.
New product categories
Image Credits:Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Cook expanded Apple’s iPhone and computers ecosystem into a broader network of complementary devices that includes wearables and gadgets.
Apple launched the Apple Watch in 2015 and has since turned it into a full-fledged health and fitness companion complete with blood oxygen tracking and ECG monitoring. Apple then disrupted the earphones market in 2016 with the launch of the first AirPods, changing the wireless headphones category. It then launched its first over-the-ear headphones in 2020. It’s also worth noting that Apple purchased Beats in 2014.
The tech giant also released the Apple Vision Pro in 2024, positioning it not just as a VR headset, but as a spatial computing platform. The launch, however, failed to resonate with consumers who didn’t want to spend several thousand dollars to purchase the gadget.
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