Yesterday, Apple unexpectedly announced the most radical shakeup to its C-suite in years. The company revealed that Jeff Williams, its current chief operating officer (COO), will be departing the role this month and retiring at the end of the year. Williams has been in the position since 2010 and, as COO, oversees Apple’s worldwide operations. When Williams steps down, his current subordinate, Apple’s senior vice president of operations, Sabih Khan, will assume the COO role.
Both Williams and Khan are extremely competent leaders and are deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. Both have also been with the company since the 1990s. However, of the two men, only Williams has made the typical short lists of current Apple executives who are possible replacements for Tim Cook once the current CEO retires. That poses the question: Now that Williams is retiring, who are the potential successors left at Apple to become the next CEO?
Tim Cook’s potential Apple CEO successors
Back in 2023, I explored the possible executives at Apple who could step into the CEO role once Tim Cook retired. Cook has been Apple’s CEO since Steve Jobs’ passing in 2011, and under his leadership, Apple has transitioned from a company worth billions to one worth trillions. It’s understandable, then, that finding a competent successor to Cook is top of mind for many institutional Apple investors, not to mention the company’s board.
In my previous exploration of Cook’s possible successors, Williams was perhaps the most obvious choice among the execs I mentioned.
