Tim Cook’s defining achievement at Apple is building an enduring consumer franchise that has maintained user loyalty through 15 years of changes in technology and competition. Monday is his last day as CEO. But Jim Cramer believes that for all of Cook’s accomplishments and the incredible returns he generated for shareholders, he has always lived in the shadow of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. “This is yet another example of people not giving Tim his due,” Kramer said at the Investment Club’s Morning Assembly. “The long knife never went away for Tim Cook.” On Tuesday, Mr. Cook became executive chairman, and John Tarnas, a longtime Apple executive and most recently the company’s head of hardware, will take over the CEO reins. Ternus has big challenges. Since Mr. Cook took over in August 2011, Apple stock has risen about 2,280%. By comparison, the S&P 500 index rose about 555%. Apple’s market capitalization has ballooned from about $350 billion when Cook joined the company to more than $4.7 trillion. At one point, Apple’s market capitalization exceeded $5 trillion, making it the second company in history to do so. (The club’s name, Nvidia, was the first and firmly exceeds that standard.) Cramer said this kind of incredible value creation reflects more than just inheriting the iPhone from Jobs. “The key here is that this was a service, this was a buyback, and it was a belief that consumer products should always be right,” Cramer said, pointing to the driving force behind Apple’s extraordinary performance under Cook. “I admire Tim and feel strongly that he was one of the great executives of all time.” Mr. Kramer also pushed back against the idea that Mr. Cook was just a skilled operator who kept Apple’s machines running. Critics often accused Mr. Cook of not innovating like Mr. Jobs. “There’s a completely bogus story about Tim, which is that all he did was keep the trains running on time,” Kramer said Monday on “Squawk on the Streets.” “That’s crazy.” Instead, Kramer pointed to Cook’s ability to maintain the iPhone’s appeal and keep consumers coming back for successive premium devices. Remember, the iPhone was first introduced in 2007. The iPhone “has been updated so many times that it becomes a completely different phone,” Kramer said. Much of iPhone’s nearly 20-year run was under Cook’s watch. “Business-to-consumer business is impossible. That guy mastered it,” Kramer said. “His intention was to create the best consumer product ever, and he succeeded.” Cook also expanded Apple into new devices: the Apple Watch and AirPods. Most of them were successful. Sure, he also had some crappy products, like the Vision Pro virtual reality headset. During that time, Cook has built a stable ecosystem with devices that feed a high-margin service business. In fiscal 2025, Apple’s services business accounted for about 20% of its revenue, making it an $82 billion business alone. For comparison, and to give you an idea of how big that number is, the club name Wells Fargo had revenue of $83 billion last year. Needless to say, Mr. Cook was a master supply chain expert with an ability to deftly navigate the often turbulent political climate. He was able to absorb rising memory costs each quarter, but ultimately had to cave in and raise prices on Macs and iPads in June. iPhone price changes have not yet been announced, but are expected to occur at the launch event on September 9th, which will be the first event under Ternus. The memory shortage won’t go away anytime soon, nor will questions about Apple’s long-term artificial intelligence strategy. Cook’s decision not to invest hundreds of billions of dollars held by Apple’s peers in AI will give Tarnas time. But AI and memory are two of the many things Tarnas will have to address while proving to Wall Street that he plans to build on Cook’s success. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL. See here for a complete list of stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
