Ternus becomes Apple’s new CEO with massive crore-rupee pay package:Engineered many products, including iPhone; Tim Cook now the Executive Chairman

The year was 2001. A 26-year-old young engineer entered the Apple office with a dream to do something different. His job was to design the screens for Mac computers. Days passed, and gadgets like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch were introduced to the world. Behind all of these, this same young man was quietly shaping the hardware engineering. Today, 25 years later, on September 1st, when Tim Cook stepped down from his position after 15 years, the eyes of the entire world turned to this very engineer. His name is John Ternus. He has become the 8th CEO to take the helm in the history of Apple, a company that began in 1976. The complete story of Ternus in 7 questions… Question 1: What is this change at Apple? Why did Tim Cook step down as CEO? Answer: Tim Cook, who has held the CEO position at Apple for 15 years, has completed his tenure. Because of this, John Ternus, the company’s trusted partner of 25 years and head of hardware engineering, has now been given the reins. This was announced 4 months ago, but he officially took charge today, September 1st. Question 2: Who is John Ternus? How long has he been associated with Apple? Answer: John Ternus is a mechanical engineer who studied at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined Apple in 2001. Before joining Apple, he worked for four years at ‘Virtual Research Systems’. He started his journey at Apple from a very basic level. After beginning with Mac screen design, he gradually became the highest-ranking officer of the company’s hardware team. There will be four challenges in front of John Ternus Question 3: Did John also have a role in the iPhones and iPads that we have in our hands today? Answer: Absolutely! John Ternus and his team are the brains behind the physical design and hardware of every iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, or the recently launched Vision Pro that you use. Since 2021, he has been in charge of Apple’s entire hardware engineering. Question 4: Why did Apple choose John Ternus as its next boss while Tim Cook is still there? Answer: See, Tim Cook’s focus was primarily on business operations and supply chain-that is, manufacturing and selling products. But now, it is the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced chips. John Ternus is an engineer. Apple felt that no one brought in from the outside could have as deep an understanding of the company’s culture, design, and chips as Ternus does. Question 5: What does Tim Cook have to say about his new boss? Answer: In praise of John, Tim Cook said, “John has the mind of a true engineer, the soul of an inventor, and a heart that leads with integrity.” “His contribution of 25 years to Apple is so immense that it cannot be measured. There could be no better person than him to lead Apple into the future.” Question 6: What is John Ternus’s income and net worth? Will he get paid as much as Tim Cook? Answer: After working at Apple for 25 years, John has built a net worth of $75 million, or approximately ₹700 crore, through his salary, bonuses, and shares. Now, after becoming the CEO, his package will also be similar to Tim Cook’s, at around ₹600 crore. Tim Cook received a package of about ₹700 crore last year. Incidentally, Tim Cook’s total net worth is around $3 billion, or approximately ₹28,000 crore. Question 7: What does John Ternus like to do? What is his personal life like? Answer: John keeps his personal life very private, so there is not much information available about his family or marriage. However, he is very passionate about racing. He enjoys cycling and participates in off-road rally car racing in his spare time. Often, he even takes his office team to Washington for off-road car racing on weekends. Cook made Apple a $4 trillion company Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998 and became CEO in 2011. Under his leadership, Apple’s market value has grown from $350 billion (approx. ₹32 lakh crore) to $4 trillion (approx. ₹350 lakh crore). The company’s annual revenue has also increased from $108 billion (approx. ₹10 lakh crore) to over $416 billion (₹39 lakh crore) in 2025. 3 key facts about Apple