Are internal CEOs the way to go?

This September, Tim Cook is stepping down as the CEO of Apple after nearly 15 years. Cook will hand the role over to John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. 

Cook shared his thoughts about his successor in a community letter. In it, he called Ternus, “a brilliant engineer and thinker who has spent the past 25 years building the Apple products our users love so much, obsessed with every detail, focused on every possible way we can make something better, bolder, more beautiful, and more meaningful.” He added that Ternus “is the perfect person for the job.”

Aside from Cook’s own faith in Ternus to take over his role, the succession makes sense given Ternus’ 25 years of experience at the company. But the move is also a predictable one given new research on succession. According to global leadership advisory and executive search firm Egon Zehnder’s recent 2026 Succession study, which examined 500 global CEO appointments, CEOs are not typically outside hires. The report found that a whopping 82% of CEOs were appointed from within their organizations over the past decade. Most CEOs (84%) come into the role as first-timers. 

Among first time CEO’s, 88% were promoted internally. However almost half (49%) of experienced CEOs came from outside of the company, which suggests companies look outside of their organizations when they’re seeking to change directions. Ternus’s promotion suggests  Apple is to planning to stay the course rather than looking for a radically new vision. Morgan Stanley analysts agree, writing that the succession reflects Apple’s “emphasis on product at the center of the flywheel will remain.”

The research also found that CEOs who are promoted from within typically last slightly longer in the role, too. Exerternally appointed CEOs have an average tenure of 73 months (six years and one month). Those who are appointed from within average tenure of 82.43 months (six years and 10 months).

Given Cook’s own career path, the move seems like an intuitive one. The tech leader was hired by Steve Jobs in 1998, before being promoted to executive vice president of worldwide sales in 2002, and then to COO in 2005. Cook took over Job’s role as CEO in 2011, after having already worked at the company for 13 years.

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