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Tim Cook will step down as Apple CEO and hand reins over to the iPhone maker’s hardware leader

Keynote Address Opens Apple Worldwide Developers Conference SAN JOSE, CA - JUNE 05: Apple's John Ternus speaks during the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center on June 5, 2017 in San Jose, California. Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the five-day WWDC with announcements of a a new operating system, a new iPad Pro and a the HomePod, a music speaker and home assistant. WWDC runs through June 9. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the job that he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a nearly 15-year reign that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $3.6 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity.

Cook, 65, will turn the CEO duties to Apple’s head of hardware engineering, John Tenus, on September 1 while remaining involved with the Cupertino, California, company as executive chairman. That’s similar to the transitions made by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Netflix’s Reed Hastings after they ended their highly successful tenures as CEO.

Although he never shook the perception that he lacked Jobs’ vision, Cook leveraged the popularity of the iPhone and other breakthroughs orchestrated by his predecessor to lift Apple to heights that seemed unfathomable when it was on the brink of bankruptcy during the mid-1990s.

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