How Tim Cook made Apple one of the world’s most valuable companies

Tim Cook took over Apple after Steve Jobs, a predecessor widely viewed as one of the world’s greatest innovators. Fifteen years later, Cook is set to leave a company that briefly reached a $5 trillion market value and whose stock rose more than 2,000% during his tenure.

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(Cook) managed to scale the iPhone to a level that no one would have thought was likely or possible over that period of time.

His achievement was not simply a matter of keeping Apple’s products in the market. Cook made the iPhone part of everyday routines, from buying coffee and listening to music to exercising and paying a credit-card bill. Apple’s services and accessories helped extend the reach of its flagship device.

David Yoffie, a Harvard Business School professor who wrote a case study on Apple and Cook, said Cook had scaled the iPhone beyond what many observers thought possible. His successor, hardware engineering chief John Ternus, will inherit a very different challenge from the one Cook faced after Jobs.

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intelligent

Cook also had to protect Apple’s operations across the United States and China as relations between the two countries grew tense. His background in operations and supply-chain management helped, but experts also credited his measured style, quick decisions and negotiating skills.

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strategic

Apple avoided some of the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs after the company promised to invest $600 billion in expanding its US operations, including domestic production of critical iPhone parts. Former Apple retail executive Ron Johnson called Cook "intelligent" and "strategic," while Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld said Cook ranked highly among the corporate leaders Donald Trump came to respect. Gene Munster described Cook as "a statesman" as well as a chief executive.

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a statesman