Tim Cook has now served as Apple’s chief government officer (CEO) for longer Steve Jobs’ total tenure, together with the latter’s time as interim CEO.
Steve Jobs served as Apple’s CEO throughout two distinct stretches: first as interim CEO from September 16, 1997 to January 5, 2000, a interval lasting 841 days, after which as official CEO from January 5, 2000 till his resignation on August 24, 2011, a span of 4,249 days. Mixed, Jobs led Apple as CEO for a complete of 5,090 days.
Tim Cook dinner, then again, turned CEO instantly following Jobs’s resignation on August 24, 2011 and has repeatedly held since then, which quantities to five,091 days. Which means, as of August 1, 2025, Cook dinner has formally been Apple’s CEO for someday longer than Steve Jobs was.
It is price noting that from 1976 to 1985, Steve Jobs was by no means Apple’s CEO. When Apple included in 1977, enterprise capitalist Mike Markkula insisted on bringing in an skilled government to run the corporate, which is why Michael Scott was employed as Apple’s first CEO. After Scott left, Markkula himself turned CEO, adopted by John Sculley, whom Jobs personally recruited from Pepsi in 1983.
Jobs as an alternative held titles resembling chairman of the board and head of the Macintosh division, however he was not entrusted with the chief government function. In the end, after an influence wrestle in 1985, Jobs was stripped of his tasks and left the corporate completely.
When it comes to {hardware}, as CEO Jobs oversaw the launch of main merchandise such because the iMac, iPod, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad from 1997 to 2011. Cook dinner, then again, has overseen the debut of the Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, Apple silicon, AirTag, and Imaginative and prescient Professional.
Software program-wise, Jobs debuted iTunes, Mac OS X, Safari, iOS, the App Store, FaceTime, and iCloud. Cook dinner has overseen the launch of Swift, Apple Pay, Apple Intelligence, and a large enlargement of Apple providers together with Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and Apple Health+.
Jobs additionally stewarded the corporate’s restoration and Microsoft’s $150 million funding, the transfer into retail, the plan to construct Apple Park, and Apple’s ascension to change into probably the most beneficial American tech firm. Cook dinner has supervised file valuations (reaching $3 trillion {dollars} in 2022) and Apple changing into probably the most beneficial public traded firm, in addition to vital acquisitions resembling Beats and Shazam.
Cook dinner seemingly has no plans to step down anytime quickly; there may be apparently no immediate successor able to take the helm. In reality, he may change into Apple’s chairman in addition to CEO within the not-too-distant future.