(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook, who’s stepping down as chief executive officer later this year, told employees on Tuesday that he is “healthy” and plans to serve as executive chairman for a long time.
Cook made the comments in an all-hands meeting with staff, following the announcement that he will pass the reins to hardware chief John Ternus on Sept. 1. The two executives held the gathering in the Steve Jobs Theater at the company’s headquarters, with the discussion spanning artificial intelligence, product plans and design.
“I’m excited to continue my journey at Apple as executive chairman,” said Cook, 65. “I am healthy. My energy is high, and I plan to be in this new role for a long time.”
The remarks suggest Cook is trying to tamp down speculation over why he’s relinquishing the role. Though Ternus has been seen as the heir apparent for years, Cook hadn’t previously suggested he was close to retiring as CEO.
“I’ll be here to support John in any way he needs and in any way I can,” Cook said during the meeting. “I’ll be here to offer my knowledge and experience and be a sounding board anytime I’m called upon. Apple will be my top priority. It’s who I am at my core, and I can’t imagine it any other way.”
Still, he said “there can only be one CEO at a time.” Taking the executive chairman job — a new role for Cook — will allow him to focus on strengthening Apple’s relations globally.
“This is an area where we’ve built relationships over multiple years and a decade-plus, and I think I can help with that,” he said. “And I’ll probably help on some other things,” he said.
After making prepared remarks, Cook was asked why he decided now is the time to step down. He said he desired the “best-ever transition,” which means that the “business had to be doing great,” the “product road map to be incredible” and for Ternus to be “ready for the role.”
Cook noted that the company has an “incredible” product pipeline and that it reported its best-ever quarter during the most recent holiday period. “These three things all intersected and they intersect now,” Cook said. “And so now was the time.”
He said he wanted the transition to be “a textbook succession plan, the best in the world. And I hope that business schools and so forth are writing about it.”
In his own comments to employees, Ternus said that he’s “especially excited to be stepping into this role at this moment, because I am telling you we are about to change the world once again.”
He said Apple has an “incredible road map ahead, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the most exciting time to be building products and services at Apple in my entire career.”
The Cupertino, California-based company is poised to launch a foldable iPhone this fall and is working on several new home devices and wearables.
“AI is going to create almost unlimited potential,” he said. “We’re going to be able to keep unlocking possibilities that are going to create entirely new opportunities for our products and services, and I’m so excited about what that’s going to mean for our users.”
Ternus, who took over the company’s design teams last year, also pledged to keep the look and feel of Apple products at the forefront. “We’re going to keep focusing on design, because design is core to what we do at Apple,” he said. “Apple’s brought truly incredible design to more people than any company in history.”
He added that “there are some things that can never change and won’t change.” The incoming CEO promised to keep working on the company’s privacy, security and environmental efforts.
“Who we are as a company won’t change,” said Ternus, 50. “Our mission won’t change.”
