How golden was Tim Cook's Apple?

Apple CEO Tim Cook marked the end of a remarkable 15-year tenure with his handover of the reins to John Ternus on Tuesday. His legacy is marked by an extraordinary performance, with the company's stock soaring from $13.35 to $316.61, a staggering 2,272% increase. This growth eclipsed the gains of major stock indexes, and the company's market cap ballooned from $347 billion to a mind-boggling $4.7 trillion.

Cook's influence was so potent that Apple's market cap expanded by an astonishing $32 million every hour over the past 15 years, according to Bank of America's calculations.

Cook's innovation was to transform Apple from a product-centric company to one with a dominant recurring revenue model. This shift was propelled by services like the App Store, iCloud, Apple TV, Music, Apple Pay, and Apple News+. As of the company's July 30 investor call, Apple boasted over 1.5 billion paid subscriptions across its platforms.

The services segment alone contributed $30.7 billion in the latest quarter, marking a 12% increase from the previous year. Looking ahead, the AI era presents a new challenge, but Cook's track record speaks volumes about his ability to navigate through changes. However, it's worth noting that Steve Jobs' stewardship, which began in 1997 when he returned as interim CEO, saw even more impressive growth in the stock.