There’s long been speculation about when Apple CEO Tim Cook might retire and who is likely to replace him. That intensified earlier this month when he turned 65. Cook himself has made only two on-the-record statements, but a new report over the weekend suggests that the company is now ramping up preparations to replace him “as soon as next year” . Tim Cook’s retirement Tim Cook turned 65 earlier this month, and given that’s a common retirement milestone, it led to renewed speculation about the potential timings. Cook himself started laying the groundwork back in 2021. He stated then that he didn’t expect to still be at Apple in 2031, though he said on Dua Lipa’s podcast two years ago that he would be there for a while yet. A Financial Times report on Saturday said that Apple’s board had intensified its search for his replacement. Although Apple SVP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus is the prime candidate, the report says the board is also considering external candidates. It even suggests the company might make the announcement early in the year to give the new CEO time to settle in before WWDC in June and the next iPhone launch in September. If so, that would make the announcement just a few short months away. The piece does hedge, however, noting that planned timings could still change. This is clearly a deliberate leak As a number of other Apple commenters have observed, this has all the hallmarks of a deliberate leak. John Gruber observes that the number of people within Apple who would know about this is so small that an accidental leak doesn’t seem credible. I don’t think there are many people, if any, outside Apple’s top executive team and board of directors who have any insight into Cook’s thinking on this. That “several people” spoke to the FT about this says to me that those sources (members of the board?) did so with Cook’s blessing, and they want this announcement to be no more than a little surprising. Former Google Ventures partner and Slack director MG Siegler points to the number of bylines on the piece. The fact that there are four reporters bylined on this 330-word post suggests that this is more than just idle speculation based on some loose chatter and more that this is a potential trial balloon on the idea that at least some people “in the know” are floating out there. A trial balloon is where a company chooses to leak a piece of information to the media in order to test reaction, and is named after the practice of releasing a party balloon before a hot air balloon launches in order to check the wind conditions. Given that Cook has overseen the growth of the company from a $350 billion value in 2011 to $4 trillion today, it’s natural for the board to be concerned about market reaction to his retirement. If he is indeed planning to retire next year, the company would want to both gauge the response of investors and give people time to get used to the idea so that it doesn’t come as a shock when the announcement is finally made. It’s pretty clear, then, that Cook is now eyeing his retirement, although his loyalty to the company means he would only leave at a point when the market is ready for it. This leak is obviously designed to find out whether that point might potentially be early next year. At the time of writing, pre-market trading on AAPL is down well under 1%, which is within the normal range of random variations. This does tend to suggest that investors have been prepared for this for some time and are not unduly concerned. Putting all this together, I would not be at all surprised to see an official announcement in the first half of next year. It’s possible that Cook could take an interim role as chairman or advisor to the board as a way of further reassuring investors. Highlighted accessories Official Apple Store on Amazon Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter for iPhone 17 Official Apple iPhone Air cases and bumpers iPhone Air MagSafe Battery Official iPhone Air case Official iPhone 17 cases Official iPhone 17 Pro cases and Pro Max cases.
https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/17/tim-cook-retirement-leak-is-clearly-a-deliberate-test-of-market-reaction/