internal
Tim Cook
Chief Executive Officer
Executive
15 yr
16 reports
Apple Inc. ·AAPL
Functional org with no product P&L heads
Technology · Fortune #3 · Functional structure · 161K employees · Cupertino, CA
View as of:
10
CEO span
near peer avg (10)
3.2
Avg span
moderate
3
Max depth
flat for 161K emp
6.9 yr
Avg tenure
stable vs FY2024
90%
Internal hires
↑ above industry avg
Consolidated financials FY2025 · period end 2025-09-27 · 10-K
Revenue
$416.2B
Operating income
$133.1B
Net income
$112.0B
Total assets
$359.2B
Shares out
14.78B
Sourced from Apple Inc. DEF 14A · filed 2026-01-08 ↗ View on SEC
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Apple operates a rare large-scale functional organization, with no product P&L leaders and all major functions reporting to the CEO. This page maps Apple’s executive structure, leadership roles, and reporting lines, analyzes its implications, and compares Apple’s model with other Big Tech peers.
What to model
Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines
Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.
Latest signal John Ternus joined as Chief Executive Officer (designate)
Appointed CEO effective September 1, 2026.
Source · See change logScenario views in the chart
- Add Chief AI Officer Create a standalone AI leader reporting to the CEO to coordinate AI strategy across hardware, software, and services.
- Move Services under COO Shift Services to report to the COO to reduce CEO span and integrate services operations more tightly.
Atlas work this supports
- Connect Workday or UKG Get these analytics for YOUR org — tenure, span of control, headcount, automatically from your HRIS.
- Connect Salesforce Map your target accounts like this. Import contacts, visualize decision chains, plan multi-threading.
- Plan a Reorg Use this as a starting point. Model scenarios, compare structures, present options to your board.
The people
Who's running this
10 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.
internal
Sabih Khan
Chief Operating Officer
Operations
1 yr
0 reports
internal
Kevan Parekh
Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Finance
1 yr
0 reports
internal
Craig Federighi
Senior Vice President, Software Engineering
Engineering
13 yr
1 reports
internal
John Ternus
Senior Vice President, Hardware Engineering
Engineering
5 yr
1 reports
internal
Deirdre O’Brien
Senior Vice President, Retail + People
Retail & HR
5 yr
0 reports
Kate Adams
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Legal
8 yr
0 reports
internal
Eddy Cue
Senior Vice President, Services
Services
14 yr
0 reports
internal
Johny Srouji
Senior Vice President, Hardware Technologies
Engineering
8 yr
0 reports
internal
Greg Joswiak
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing
Marketing
4 yr
3 reports
The pay
Executive compensation
From the most recent DEF 14A Summary Compensation Table. 5 named executive officers disclosed. Bar length scales with total compensation.
Tim Cook $74.3M
- Base salary
- $3.00M
- Stock awards
- $57.54M
- Non-equity incentive
- $12.00M
- Other
- $1.76M
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Kevan Parekh $22.5M
- Base salary
- $892K
- Stock awards
- $18.43M
- Non-equity incentive
- $3.12M
- Other
- $22K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Kate Adams $27.0M
- Base salary
- $1.00M
- Stock awards
- $22.01M
- Non-equity incentive
- $4.00M
- Other
- $22K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Sabih Khan $27.0M
- Base salary
- $1.00M
- Stock awards
- $22.01M
- Non-equity incentive
- $4.00M
- Other
- $22K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
Deirdre O’Brien $27.0M
- Base salary
- $1.00M
- Stock awards
- $22.01M
- Non-equity incentive
- $4.00M
- Other
- $38K
- Fiscal year
- FY2025
- Source
- SEC DEF 14A ↗
The skin in the game
Beneficial ownership
Insider stock holdings and the company's ownership requirements for executives and directors. Disclosed in the most recent DEF 14A.
Stock ownership requirements
5×Director cash retainer
Directors must hold shares worth 5x annual cash retainer.
| Holder | Shares | % of class |
|---|---|---|
| Tim Cook | 3.28M | <1% |
| Kate Adams | 175K | <1% |
| Sabih Khan | 1.07M | <1% |
| Kevan Parekh | 9K | <1% |
The businesses
How Apple Inc. divides the work
4 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.
Engineering
60K employees
Senior Vice President, Software Engineering (Craig Federighi)
Responsible for Apple’s operating systems, applications, and developer platforms.
Operations
30K employees
Chief Operating Officer (Sabih Khan)
Oversees global supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, and AppleCare.
Services
20K employees
Senior Vice President, Services (Eddy Cue)
Runs Apple’s digital services including App Store, Music, TV+, and Pay.
$100.0B rev +14% YoY FY2025
Retail & People
50K employees
Senior Vice President, Retail + People (Deirdre O’Brien)
Manages Apple Stores worldwide and all HR functions.
The thesis
Why this org is unusual
Apple’s most distinctive structural feature is its strict functional organization with no standalone product or P&L owners.
All major functions—hardware, software, services, operations, and marketing—report directly to the CEO, reinforcing centralized decision-making. This design emphasizes deep functional expertise and cross-functional coordination over divisional autonomy.
The CEO span is wide, with ten senior executives reporting directly to Tim Cook, reflecting Apple’s preference for executive-level integration rather than layered business-unit leadership. Hardware and software engineering remain separate peer functions, forcing collaboration at the top rather than within product silos. This structure has remained consistent for over a decade, even as Apple’s revenue mix has shifted toward Services.
The announced 2026 CEO transition to John Ternus does not change the functional model; it reinforces Apple’s bias toward promoting long-tenured insiders steeped in this system.
- No divisional P&L owners
- Hardware and software led as peer functions
- Wide CEO span of control
The comparison
How Apple Inc. stacks up
Compared with other mega-cap technology peers, Apple is unusually pure in its functional design. Microsoft and Alphabet both rely on hybrid or divisional structures with clear product or business-unit P&Ls, while Amazon operates a strongly divisional model. Apple instead concentrates authority at the CEO level, …
Reporting depth
Current signals
What changed recently
Apple announced a planned CEO succession, with hardware chief John Ternus set to replace Tim Cook in September 2026.
- new
- reorgKate Adams / Jennifer Newstead General Counsel transition
Jennifer Newstead to become General Counsel on March 1, 2026; Kate Adams transitions to Government Affairs before retiring in late 2026.
Source - newBen Borders Principal Accounting Officer
Appointed effective January 1, 2026, succeeding Chris Kondo.
Source
Leadership Timeline
Year-over-year executive structure based on SEC proxy and annual filings.
FY2025
DEF 14A filed 2026-01-08
- CEO
- Tim Cook
- CEO span
- 10
- C-suite
- 6
- Avg tenure
- 7 yr
Stable functional structure with internal promotions dominating the C-suite.
Named executive officers (5)
- Tim Cook - CEO since 2011
- Kevan Parekh - CFO since 2025
- Kate Adams - General Counsel since 2017
- Sabih Khan - COO since 2025
- Deirdre O’Brien - SVP Retail + People since 2020
FY2024
DEF 14A filed 2025-01-10
- CEO
- Tim Cook
- CEO span
- 10
- C-suite
- 6
- Avg tenure
- 7.5 yr
COO and CFO roles held by long-tenured executives.
Named executive officers (5)
- Tim Cook - CEO since 2011
- Luca Maestri - CFO since 2014
- Kate Adams - General Counsel since 2017
- Jeff Williams - COO since 2015
- Deirdre O’Brien - SVP Retail + People since 2020
FY2023
DEF 14A filed 2024-01-11
- CEO
- Tim Cook
- CEO span
- 10
- C-suite
- 6
- Avg tenure
- 8 yr
Highly stable executive team with minimal turnover.
Named executive officers (5)
- Tim Cook - CEO since 2011
- Luca Maestri - CFO since 2014
- Kate Adams - General Counsel since 2017
- Jeff Williams - COO since 2015
- Deirdre O’Brien - SVP Retail + People since 2020
Year-over-year changes
No structural changes; incremental tenure decline due to time progression.
- CEO span: 10 → 10
- C-suite size: 6 → 6
- Avg tenure: 8 → 7.5 yr
CFO and COO transitions marked continued internal promotion.
- CEO span: 10 → 10
- C-suite size: 6 → 6
- Avg tenure: 7.5 → 7 yr
- retitled Sabih Khan - Chief Operating Officer (was SVP Operations) (DEF 14A 2026-01-08)
- new Kevan Parekh - Chief Financial Officer (DEF 14A 2026-01-08)
The board
Board of directors
8 directors. 7 of 8 independent (88%). Source: most recent DEF 14A.
Art Levinson
Chair Independent
Chairman, Calico
Tim Cook
Inside
CEO, Apple
Wanda Austin
Independent
Former CEO, Aerospace Corporation
Alex Gorsky
Independent
Former Executive Chair, Johnson & Johnson
Andrea Jung
Independent
CEO, Grameen America
Monica Lozano
Independent
Former CEO, College Futures Foundation
Ron Sugar
Independent
Former CEO, Northrop Grumman
Sue Wagner
Independent
Co-founder, BlackRock
The board, organized
Board committees
3 standing committees. Audit and Compensation must be 100% independent under SEC rules; the rest vary.
Audit Committee
100% independent
- Ron Sugar Chair
- Andrea Jung
- Alex Gorsky
People and Compensation Committee
100% independent
- Andrea Jung Chair
- Sue Wagner
- Alex Gorsky
Nominating Committee
100% independent 4 mtgs/yr
- Sue Wagner Chair
- Alex Gorsky
- Andrea Jung
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO of Apple?
Tim Cook is Apple’s CEO as of 2026-Q2 and has held the role since 2011.
What type of organizational structure does Apple use?
Apple uses a functional organizational structure with centralized decision-making and no divisional P&L leaders.
How many direct reports does Apple’s CEO have?
Apple’s CEO has ten direct reports, all leading major company-wide functions.
How has Apple’s leadership changed recently?
In April 2026, Apple announced that John Ternus will succeed Tim Cook as CEO effective September 1, 2026, alongside other finance and legal transitions.
Who reports directly to Apple’s CEO?
All major functional leaders—including engineering, operations, services, marketing, finance, and retail—report directly to the CEO.
Sources
- 8-K Filing, Apr 20 2026
- 8-K Filing, Dec 5 2025
- 8-K Filing, Jan 2 2026
- SEC EDGAR: Apple Inc. DEF 14A Proxy Statement
- SEC EDGAR: Apple Inc. 10-K Annual Report
Reference
Cite this page
If you reference this page in research, analysis, or news writing, use one of the formats below. Citation includes the SEC filing source where applicable.
APA 7th
Creately. (2026). Apple Inc. organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/apple/MLA 9th
"Apple Inc. Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/apple/. Accessed .Chicago 17
Creately. "Apple Inc. Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/apple/.Original SEC source View on SEC ↗
Apple Inc.. DEF 14A. Filed 2026-01-08. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000130817926000008/aapl014016-def14a.htmPermanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/apple/ · last updated 2026-04-01