Day One at Apple: John Ternus Sends His First Memo as CEO

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Every new chief executive gets exactly one chance to write a first memo, and John Ternus used his on the morning of September 1, 2026, the day he formally took over as CEO of Apple. Tim Cook, who led the company for years, moved into the role of executive chair. The note went out to employees within hours of the handover, and its tone was warm, short and carefully forward-looking.

Thank-yous first, product hints second

Ternus opened by thanking employees for their good wishes and thanking Cook for sharing what he knew during the transition. He described his predecessor as a CEO who led with his values and with decency, and called Apple the greatest company in the world. Then came the part every Apple watcher scanned for: a mention of a huge launch next week and excitement about future products, including some that have not been imagined yet. He signed off with a promise of more to come, which in corporate memo language is about as close to a cliffhanger as it gets.

The warmth went both ways. On his final day as CEO, Cook told staff he took enormous comfort in passing leadership to someone he described as brilliant, wonderful and capable.

An engineer in the corner office

The change is more than a name on the door. Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and most recently ran Hardware Engineering as a senior vice president, while Cook came up through operations. His old team now reports to Johny Srouji, who became chief hardware officer. Laura Legros, a former engineering vice president who once worked under Ternus, is returning to the company, and the product design group has been restructured.

Ternus has appeared on stage at Apple events before, but the September 9 iPhone event was set to be his first as chief executive. The leadership reshuffle is expected to unfold over several years, so the first memo is less a finished plan than an opening line. Still, as opening lines go, thanking the person who handed you the keys is a classic for a reason.