John Ternus becomes Apple CEO with AAPL closing at $319.70

John Ternus becomes Apple's CEO on Tuesday, September 1. Ternus replaces Tim Cook. Cook becomes executive chairman and will focus on government relations. Apple's board unanimously approved the succession in April after months of internal planning. Four prior planned tech CEO handoffs had complete first-year results. Those returns ranged from a 38% decline to a 76% gain, according to a Motley Fool analysis. The analysis found that no prior handoff triggered a rush to sell shares beforehand. Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Apple before the transition. Analyst Wamsi Mohan expects Apple's core business to remain steady. Mohan expects Ternus to consider a larger AI budget. AAPL options activity remained elevated before the transition. Market sentiment was mixed rather than clearly one-sided. Ternus spent 25 years at Apple. He most recently led hardware engineering for the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch lines. His product portfolio also included the iPad, AirPods, and Vision Pro headset. Arthur Levinson becomes lead independent director. AAPL closed Friday at $319.70, up 1.63% that day. AAPL was about 6% below its record close. Apple briefly reached a $5 trillion market capitalization in July. Cook said demand for AI computing capacity could exceed supply. Apple's next Mac software, macOS Golden Gate, is confirmed to arrive by September 22. iOS 27's Siri AI rollout is scheduled alongside it. Ternus faces his first public test at Apple's September 9 event. A foldable iPhone is widely expected at that event.