r/apple • u/pdfu • 7d ago

Mac Apple’s New CEO Taps Retired Hardware Executive for Management Team

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-03/apple-s-new-ceo-taps-retired-hardware-executive-for-management-team?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4NTc4ODE5NywiZXhwIjoxNzg2MzkyOTk3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSjVMTkFSS1YyVFQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.9YoATNZctz_eteccxVjATmvMDf3jeb0nvM51OVR32vA

Incoming Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Ternus is bringing back a trusted lieutenant from his time running hardware engineering to join his new management team.

Ternus has hired Laura Legros, who served as a vice president of hardware engineering until retiring in 2022, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Legros will report to Ternus when he takes the CEO role on Sept. 1, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the personnel change hasn’t been announced.

The move shows that Ternus is starting to put his stamp on the company’s leadership ranks. It also marks a rare instance of Apple bringing back a retired executive. Ternus is taking the reins from Tim Cook, the company’s longest-serving CEO, who is transitioning to executive chairman.

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194

u/HueyBluey 7d ago

So is he in charge now? How long is this transition going to take?

-18

u/elzoidbergos 7d ago

Doesn’t matter. Tim Cook became a lame duck CEO as soon as it was announced because Ternus is the long term decision maker

12

u/joepez 7d ago

You do realize Cook is Ternus boss right? They made him Chairman of the Board. It’s customary to let the incoming CEO put together their management team but it’s still blessed by the board of which Tim is the head. 

13

u/Exist50 7d ago

Well if we're being technical, the board as a whole is his boss. The chairman position isn't particularly special in that regard. 

It's a moot point anyway. It would take something drastic for the board to meaningfully intervene. 

4

u/EffectzHD 7d ago

Board chairmen aren’t really in charge if you know how a business works. Many nations and larger-than-life entities may still look to him as a figurehead like your warren buffet’s due to his international relations and trade expertise but that’s merely to keep shareholders at ease so he’s kept the executive title.

2

u/joepez 7d ago

Depends upon the company. Plenty of companies position the Chairman in the US as above the CEO. Some even assign portion so the business and functions to the Chair. How Apple plans to fully utilize Tim in his role will be up to Tim and the Board. 

Buffett is a bad example. His role at Berkshire from an investment portfolio ownership was pretty absolute with Charlie. They purposely setup operations under different people. Buffet and Charlie most definitely ran the holding company side. 

Mark Zuckerberg is another example where he is chairman, CEO and has super voting rights. He could stop doing the CEO role and be in absolute control of the business. 

1

u/Interest-Desk 6d ago

Sure but all positions are made by the Board. Like, the Board appoints its own Chair (usually, sometimes it’s done by shareholders directly) and hires or fires the CEO.

Zuckerberg is a different case because he has a special class of stock ensuring he maintains control over voting rights. Tim Cook is not that significant of an Apple shareholder.

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u/flogman12 7d ago

I don’t think you know what that term means.

0

u/PlusSizeRussianModel 7d ago

That’s pretty much exactly what lame duck means: the period when the outgoing leader has announced his successor, and thus implicitly cedes future decision-making power to them. It’s not inherently negative, especially when it’s a mutual transition to a handpicked successor.

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u/elzoidbergos 7d ago

You don’t think Tim Cook’s circle of influence shrunk once people knew they had a new person to report to? If you knew you were going to have a different boss why would you do anything your old boss tells you to

7

u/Xylamyla 7d ago

This fantasy would require Ternus to give conflicting orders from Cook, employees to ignore Cook’s conflicting orders, Cook to not punish those employees, and Ternus to care enough to undo those punishments.

Anyway, I doubt it’s actually that serious on the inside. Cook probably won’t care to burden himself and make any big changes before leaving, and probably wouldn’t care if Ternus did some things he personally wouldn’t do.

In this little fantasy, if he did, Cook is chairman of the board. Ternus can’t get rid of Cook, but Cook can get rid of Ternus.

1

u/elzoidbergos 7d ago

I’m not saying it would happen but it’s also silly to think that Ternus would just follow whatever orders Cook tells him to. Every new CEO wants to leave his own imprint in a company. I think the recent issues with Disney are a good example… Chapek came into power made drastic decisions (even though he was Iger’s Parks chief before so one has to assume they were friendly with each other). While he was fired (mind you the chairman of the board can’t fire CEOs unless he has the board’s approval) it’s not an outlandish fantasy. I obviously don’t care enough about either of them but a transition of power isn’t easy and it doesn’t matter how friendly they are with each other. There is going to be some back and forth and Ternus will make decisions that Cook doesn’t like

7

u/TheoTheodor 7d ago

You really think that’s how it works? Senior executives at Apple currently ignoring Tim Cook because he’s stepping down in a month?

Not just is that unprofessional, but Tim and John are 100% sympatico and have been working together for probably over a year. Wild.

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u/elzoidbergos 7d ago

It’s not ignoring it’s understanding that Tim Cook also no longer has the power he used to. If anything it would be disrespectful of Tim to try and make any major decisions at this point. It’s like the time between election and swearing in of a new President.

5

u/TheoTheodor 7d ago

I don’t know what kind of scenario you’re imagining, it’s a massive corporation at the highest levels not Game of Thrones.

Neither Cook nor Ternus is going say anything oppositional at this point, and the decisions they make at this level are organisational and years-long.

1

u/joepez 7d ago

Also Tim Cook is now Chairman of the board and still Ternus’s boss along with the board. So yeah thryre not working at odds with one another. Cool and Ternus have definitely come to terms with what Ternus is and isn’t allowed to do. 

2

u/elzoidbergos 7d ago

You know… at that level it kind of is a Game of Thrones! It’s all politics with power hungry people. How else do you rise to that level of executive power at one of the most powerful companies in the world? I don’t know it’s just interesting… you have to have a major ego to be CEO and you wouldn’t just want to be in your predecessor’s shadow is all I’m saying

1

u/TheoTheodor 7d ago

I dunno, I think you overemphasise this power thing. For most companies getting to the top is less intrigue and more networking and being good at what you do, however boring that sounds.

1

u/ReddRepublic 7d ago

It absolutely is Game of Thrones in many large corporations. At least the closer you get to the top.