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Tim Cook Reflects on His Legacy in Final Weeks as Apple CEO

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tim cook cbs news aug 13 2026Apple CEO Tim Cook once said that what Steve Jobs stood for, in a word, was "innovation." In a CBS News interview conducted yesterday, Cook – in his final weeks at the helm of the company – was asked what his legacy stood for, and this was his response:

"In my view, your legacy is described by others, not yourself. And so, I hope that people will say that I was a good and decent man. And if they say that at the end of the day, I will feel like I have achieved something."

The interview was conducted as part of CBS News' coverage of Apple's opening of its Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) in Houston, Texas. You can watch it in full here.

Tags: CBS News, Tim Cook

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Top Rated Comments

dannyyankou Avatar
dannyyankou
5 weeks ago
His legacy in one word for me would be “pragmatic”.

I don’t even mean that in a negative way. He’s been highly effective. Being highly calculated and deliberate is often a good thing.

But I do hope Ternus brings some of that visionary energy back to Apple.
Score: 65 Votes (Like | Disagree)
appleguy123 Avatar
appleguy123
5 weeks ago
Compared to the other tech CEOs, it’s hard to deny that Tim Cook’s decency as a man stands out among them. He has so much power but I’ve never seen him intoxicated by it in the way Musk, Zuckerberg, Altman and others are.
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
I7guy
5 weeks ago
Good luck Tim. You have done a stellar job in your tenure.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
Tig_one
5 weeks ago
A phony who led Apple's ensh*ttification to satisfy stockholders at the expense of UX. That's his legacy.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hajj.david Avatar
Hajj.david
5 weeks ago
I do not like him on a personal level, but business wise and innovation wise he did a lot of great things:
- Apple Watch
- Airpods
- Vision Pro
- The huge investment and development of the M series chip
- Making ipad something more than a huge iPhone.
- Swift language
- Pushing universal apps where I can make an iPhone app easily run on iPad and easily run on macOS.

And many more.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
I7guy
5 weeks ago

Good for the shareholders - bad for the rest of the stakeholders!!! Evil corrupt human being for certain. Every choice he made was to make himself wealthier by making his shareholders wealthier and him not admitting it proves what characteristics he lacks. MLK his hero, please MLK would wipe the floor with Tim Crook.
Fun fact. In order to please shareholders, customers have to be pleased first. There is no universe in where you can rationalize why apples’ customers kept on buying and buying, at times to produce record quarters.

That those customers that bought and bought enabled the shareholders to smile.

We know very little about the man. His actions seems to suggest a person who cares about humanity, a philanthropist, someone who believes apple should help out as well. And someone who has the courage to make difficult CEO decisions.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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