Apple has priced the succession. John Ternus steps into the chief executive role with a fiscal 2027 target package worth about $58 million, while Tim Cook moves to executive chairman at about $47 million, according to a Sept. 1 SEC filing that marks the first day of the transition. The numbers make the hierarchy explicit: the new chief executive is priced above the man who built the company into a half-trillion-dollar revenue machine.
The numbers and the structure
Ternus, 51, receives a $3 million base salary and a stock grant with a target value of $55 million for 2027. Three-quarters of that equity is tied to Apple’s performance relative to the S&P 500; the remaining quarter vests semi-annually on a time basis. For the stub period of fiscal 2026, which runs through September, he gets a pro-rated restricted stock unit grant worth about $2.5 million. Cook, 65, takes a base salary cut from $3 million to $2 million and a 2027 stock target of $45 million, with only half linked to the S&P 500 benchmark.
What the pay mix signals
The weighting difference is deliberate. Ternus’ package loads 75 percent of the equity on relative performance, a structure that forces the new chief executive to outpace the broad market to earn the full grant. Cook’s chairmanship grant keeps just 50 percent on that metric, reflecting a role defined more by oversight than operational execution. Both grants will fluctuate with the share price, so the disclosed figures are targets, not guarantees.
The predecessor's discount
Cook’s 2025 compensation as chief executive totaled $74.3 million. The move to executive chairman represents a roughly 37 percent reduction in target pay, even before accounting for the lower performance linkage. The stock gained more than 2,200 percent during his 15-year tenure, far outpacing the S&P 500. The board is effectively pricing the chairmanship as a retention vehicle for institutional memory, not a growth mandate.
What the filing omits
The Sept. 1 disclosure does not quantify cash bonuses for either executive, though the company’s typical practice values those at roughly double base salary, $6 million for Ternus, $4 million for Cook. Apple also has never disclosed Ternus’ compensation as senior vice-president of hardware engineering, though that level typically draws about $25 million annually including stock, salary and bonus. His new target more than doubles that figure. The company said it will provide further detail ahead of its early-year shareholder meeting. Cook has said he plans to remain in the chairmanship for a long time.