• Apple exec John Ternus is generating potential CEO buzz as Tim Cook recently turned 65.
• Ternus is the hardware engineering chief and has worked for Apple since 2001.
• With several exec changes in 2025, Ternus’ name is appearing in more headlines as a likely heir apparent.

Tim Cook has been running Apple for more than 14 years, but he won’t be CEO forever.

With leadership transitions this year, including Cook’s longtime number two, Jeff Williams, announcing his retirement before 2026, John Ternus has emerged as a likely frontrunner for the top job, according to reports in the last year and a half.

The 65-year-old could leave the role as early as next year after Apple’s January earnings report, the Financial Times recently reported, and that the iPhone maker has intensified succession planning. Bloomberg previously identified Ternus as “the most likely heir apparent.”

Cook has previously said that his ideal candidate for the role would come from within the company and that he’s preparing “several” people to potentially take over.

Meanwhile, Apple fans and Wall Street have become more familiar with Ternus as he makes public appearances tied to iPhone and other product events.

Here’s what to know about the executive who could one day replace Cook at the helm.

He studied engineering

Ternus graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997, according to his LinkedIn profile. He majored in mechanical engineering.

He then worked for four years as an engineer before joining Apple’s product design team in 2001, per its website.

Ternus became vice president of hardware engineering in 2013, taking over from Dan Riccio. He’s worked on various Apple products, including every generation and model of iPad, as well as AirPods.

With his hardware chops, Ternus as CEO would mark the return of a chief executive at Apple with a product design background.

Ternus has ample public speaking experience

The job of Apple CEO is one of the most high-profile executive positions in the world, requiring regular media and keynote appearances.

Ternus hasn’t shied away from the spotlight, as he also has experience presenting new products and revealing new versions of the iMac and MacBook at past Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) events.

At Apple’s “Let Loose” event in May 2024, Ternus unveiled new, thinner iPad Pro and iPad Air models. His 2025 has been marked with a number of media appearances, including interviews about Apple’s plans for Apple Intelligence and new hardware.

Following the launch of the new iPhone Air, Ternus and senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg “Joz” Joswiak did an interview showcasing the durability of Apple’s thinnest phone.

The video garnered nearly 350,000 views, and many of the comments discussed if either of the execs would be Cook’s successor. Joswiak, however, is only three years younger than Cook.

Cook wants someone ‘from within Apple’

Although Apple is unsurprisingly tight-lipped about who will take over from Cook, the CEO said in 2023 that there are “very detailed succession plans” in place for when he steps down. He didn’t give much away on who is included in that plan.

“My job is to prepare several people to for the ability to succeed, and I really want the person to come from within Apple,” Cook said in a 2023 interview with singer Dua Lipa.

Cook added that he aims to give the Apple board multiple candidates to choose from once his time is up. However, he said, it doesn’t mean his time is coming soon.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

“I love it there, and I can’t envision my life without being there,” Cook told Lipa two years ago. “So, I’ll be there for a while.”

• Bill Ackman wrote on X that his go-to line for talking to women used to be, “May I meet you?”
• Memes and reactions to the advice soon followed.
• Some social media users found the advice helpful or said that it helped encourage men to meet women offline.

Trying to strike up a conversation with a woman in the real world? Bill Ackman has some advice for you.

The billionaire CEO of Pershing Square Holdings wrote on X that many young men “find it difficult to meet young women in a public setting.” Reflecting on his youth, Ackman offered what he said was his old go-to line.

“May I meet you?”

The line seemed to take social media by storm over the weekend. Ackman’s post has racked up roughly 4,200 comments, ranging from meme-ified mockery to sincere conversations and endorsements of his advice.

“This ain’t 1850s UK,” one user commented. “This is ‘peak rizz,'” wrote another.

Ackman responded to some of the comments. When one commenter wrote that he tried the line on a girl at a coffee shop and “she said no,” Ackman wrote, “Try again.”

“You need not fear being rejected,” Ackman wrote. “Wrong girl for you. Her loss, your gain.”

When another user suggested that Ackman had found success with it because he was wealthy, he responded, “I didn’t have two nickels then.”

Some online praised the post. “You have taken dating off the apps with a single X post,” wrote one. “Corny? Maybe. But authentic,” another wrote.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the post quickly turned into a big meme fest.

Nick O’Neill, a crypto enthusiast known for his joke persona, tried it out on the subway and in the park. (Both attempts appeared unsuccessful.)

“Attention, ladies of New York City, may I meet you?” he asked a crowded subway car. “Should there be a line that forms, please line up single file,” he added.

Another tried it as an opening line with all of their Hinge matches.

There were Selena Gomez memes and Shane Gillis memes, Joe Biden memes and JD Vance memes.

Some X posters suggested Ackman was out of touch with the younger generation of daters.

“May i meet you fellow kids,” one X poster wrote with an image of actor Steve Buscemi dressed as a teenager, a reference to the popular “How do you do, fellow kids” meme that mocks attempts by older people to fit in with today’s youth.

“You Boomers have zero clue what you have created,” another commenter wrote.

This is far from the first brush with internet virality for Ackman, a prolific X user known for writing long posts sometimes reaching thousands of words (he dressed up as one of his X posts for Halloween).

While much of the meme-ing centered on “May I meet you?” as a pickup line for women, Ackman wrote that it “should also work for women seeking men as well as same sex interactions.”

After the post went viral, Ackman posted that the line works best “when you are moving” and that he’d heard a Stanford undergrad had used it successfully.

“A world where human interaction is encouraged and rewarded is a better world,” he wrote.

• Disney and YouTube TV reached a deal late last week after a lengthy blackout.
• The two sides were divided on how much Disney’s networks like ESPN are worth.
• Sports fans can expect similar carriage disputes in 2026.

Disney recently gave sports fans a cause for celebration — and a reason for dread.

The good news: Disney’s long-running fight with YouTube TV is over. Disney-owned channels, including ESPN, returned to YouTube TV on Friday night after a 15-day blackout, marking Disney’s longest carriage dispute to date.

The bad news: Disney warned in its latest annual report that more TV blackouts may be ahead. Disney has distribution contracts with pay-TV providers expiring in its fiscal year 2026, and told investors in its yearly 10-K form that negotiations “could lead to temporary or longer-term service blackouts.” These contracts can vary in length but typically last for three to five years.

“There’s a good chance” that carriage disputes between media firms and pay-TV providers will become commonplace in 2026, given the state of the TV industry, media analyst Alan Wolk of TVREV told Business Insider.

“There’s fewer and fewer video viewers,” Wolk said, referring to pay-TV subscriptions. “And I think that the media companies are just like, ‘OK, now we can really press our advantage.'”

As the cord-cutting movement continues, media firms and TV providers have tried to protect their businesses by squeezing existing customers for more money. That has created a vicious cycle where fewer people have a pay-TV subscription, except for die-hard fans of sports or cable news.

Disney’s argument, as Wolk noted, is that it owns highly valuable sports rights that make its networks a must-carry for any major TV provider.

But at some point, pay-TV customers could balk at how high their monthly bills have gotten. Google had said that paying Disney’s desired rates would have required it to raise YouTube TV’s price for the second time in a year.

YouTube TV had substantial leverage in its fight with Disney because of its backing by parent company Google. And while cable companies have been hit by cord-cutting, some are becoming less reliant on pay-TV subscriptions, which gives them their own leverage.

“TV is, at this point, a loss leader” for cable company Charter, Wolk said. He added that the video subscription business is primarily a way to retain broadband internet customers and “create stickiness” than to attract cord-nevers, or people who’ve never paid for cable.

Charter is thinking outside the cable box. The cable giant reached a deal with Disney in 2023 to bundle streaming services in its cable video package, a model that rival cable providers have since followed. While this isn’t a foolproof solution to pay-TV’s imperiled business model, it has helped slow Charter’s cord-cutting rate, as analyst Craig Moffett of research firm MoffettNathanson has noted.

“Charter is enjoying a remarkable turnaround driven by its bundled streaming packages,” Moffett wrote in a late October note, adding that it lost just 70,000 video subscribers in the third quarter, compared to 294,000 a year earlier. “The results are nothing short of extraordinary.”

Cable companies like Charter and Comcast aren’t the only players in the pay-TV market. There are also satellite providers, such as DirecTV and Dish, as well as virtual TV services like YouTube TV, Fubo, and Hulu + Live TV.

DirecTV doesn’t have a backup business like broadband internet, but it’s also starting to experiment with bundling streamers. And it’s trying a strategy centered on so-called “skinny bundles” built around sports, news, or entertainment. Its pitch is that customers can get the channels they watch most, while paying less.

Media giants like Disney must get enough value for their networks to please investors, but TV providers increasingly have reasons not to back down. That could lead to more fights in 2026, and sports fans might get caught in the crossfire.

• My husband and I appeared on an episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters International” in 2023.
• As a fan of the show, I was excited to be selected and encountered lots of surprises during filming.
• I was surprised by how long the pre-production process was and how many takes some scenes took.

It was always a dream of mine to move to Europe, so when the opportunity to relocate to Germany for work presented itself, my husband and I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

As I was scrolling through an expat Facebook group, I came across a dream opportunity posted by a casting director — the chance to star in an episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters International.”

I messaged the casting director to express my interest and was given a form to apply. As an avid fan of the show, I was thrilled when we received an email stating we had been selected.

Now that our episode has aired, I’ve had some time to reflect on what wasn’t seen on camera. Here are five things that surprised me most about the filming process.

The pre-production process was lengthy

The application process included several forms and a lengthy pre-filming questionnaire asking us to detail how we met, why we were moving, and what we did for work. I was also asked to send some photos to represent our story.

Then, we had virtual interviews to share more about ourselves, our lives, and our apartment preferences.

Luckily, this process didn’t delay our move since we were concurrently filling out documents for our visas.

My hair, makeup, and jewelry had to be consistent throughout filming

On the first day of filming, I was informed that I’d need to maintain the same hair, makeup, and jewelry for the next three days — a detail I hadn’t considered but was crucial for uniformity in the episode.

I did my own hair and makeup despite hoping a professional would do it. To maintain outfit coordination for each scene and day, we took photos and were meticulous about remembering our looks.

Filming was done out of order

To create a 30-minute episode, my husband and I filmed for four days. However, once we began, I was surprised to learn that filming wasn’t done in chronological order.

For example, the apartments we saw were shown in a different order on TV than we saw them in real life.

My husband and I had to repeat some scenes multiple times

Because the director wanted our genuine reactions to the apartment showings, we weren’t scripted to say, touch, or do anything. However, we did have to repeat some dialogue, movements, and expressions multiple times.

There was only one camera person on the shoot, which meant we needed to retake every scene at least four times so he could capture our individual reactions and our reactions as a couple. He also had to zoom in on any details, such as us touching an object or moving our hands.

For the scenes to remain consistent, we had to remember exactly where we stood, what we touched, what we said, and how we reacted.

Filming was a lot of fun

One of the best parts of the filming process was sharing our love story on camera. It was so exciting to have a big milestone in our lives documented — it’s something we’ll always remember.

Overall, we had a great experience filming our episode. The HGTV crew and staff were kind, helpful, and sincere in their desire to showcase an accurate reflection of us as a couple and our journey relocating to Germany.

This story was originally published on October 25, 2024, and most recently updated on November 17, 2025.

• Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng said it plans to start mass production of its robot, called Iron, next year.
• The EV startup’s CEO said Xpeng built Iron to be so “human-like” that people are comfortable hugging it.
• Tesla is also set to begin production of its Optimus robot in 2026.

A Chinese Tesla rival is betting on huggability to take on Elon Musk’s Optimus robot.

EV startup Xpeng unveiled the latest version of its humanoid robot, called Iron, earlier this month, and CEO He Xiaopeng said the company wanted its bipedal bots to be “highly human-like.”

In an earnings call on Monday, he told analysts that Xpeng had found adding fake muscles and “bionic skin” to Iron made people more comfortable touching and even hugging the robot.

“This is very exciting because traditional robots really were not that attractive and appealing for human beings to give them a hug,” said Xiaopeng.

Unlike many rival humanoid robots, Iron has a distinctly human-like physique, with Xpeng showcasing male and female variants. Users will be able to customize the robot with different body types, the company said.

In one demo at the unveiling, Xpeng employees even cut into the robot’s flexible “skin” to demonstrate that there was no one inside.

Speaking to analysts on Monday, Xiaopeng said Xpeng aims to sell 1 million Iron robots a year by 2030, with mass production set to begin by the end of 2026.

The auto executive, who predicted that the market for humanoid robots would ultimately be larger than the car market, added that he expects humanoid robots to be initially used in retail and as tour guides. Xpeng plans to put Iron to work in its stores next year, he said.

The production ramp-up is the latest sign that Tesla’s biggest robotics rival could come from China.

Musk’s automaker is preparing to begin mass production of its own humanoid robot, Optimus, by the end of 2026. Musk has predicted Optimus could be the biggest product ever, and Tesla’s AI chief told employees that 2026 will be the “hardest year” of their lives.

Founded in 2014, Xpeng has been one of the most successful startups to battle Tesla for a piece of China’s red-hot EV market.

The Guangzhou-based company has smashed sales records this year and is close to becoming profitable.

Xpeng executives said on Monday the EV startup will launch seven new vehicles next year, including three robotaxi models, and the company also plans to begin mass production of its $280,000 flying car in 2026.

• AI is making its mark on law firms and corporate legal teams.
• Clients expect measurable savings, and firms are spending real money to deliver them.
• At TLTF Summit, Big Law leaders and legal-tech builders explored the future of the industry.

This past week, law firm leaders and legal-tech builders gathered at a schmoozy, invite-only retreat in Austin to discuss the future of the legal profession.

The key debate was not simply whether lawyers should use AI, but how to buy it, and who pays.

Run by the investment firm The Legal Tech Fund, TLTF Summit is a three-day event and the industry’s spin on the Sun Valley Conference. This year, panels considered staffing models, non-lawyer ownership, “innovation theater,” and unsanctioned tool use, or “shadow IT.”

I attended the summit and spoke with lawyers and legal ethicists about how tech is shaping the industry.

Law firms are notorious tech laggards.

Their structure, one lawyer and legal ethicist said onstage, fights investment for the future. Unlike corporations, she said, most law firms are partnerships that distribute profits each year instead of retaining earnings. That leaves little cash for technology bets that may take years to pay off.

The billable-hour model also blunts incentives.

Software that reduces hours can cut revenue unless the firm moves to fixed fees or share-of-savings deals. Add strict confidentiality rules, client security audits, and a procurement process that’s fragmented across a firm’s practices, and the path to buying new tools is slow by design.

When generative AI first hit law firms, many clients were also wary.

An employment lawyer said that certain clients would tell her firm not to use the technology on their matters.

But soon, those same clients were demanding adoption, the lawyer added. They asked what tools the firm used, how lawyers were trained, and where the savings showed up.

As one retired firm chair put it: In two years, “thou shalt not” became “thou must.”

That shift has created real urgency, lawyers said.

“Law firms are horrible at treading water,” the employment lawyer said onstage. “They either swim forward or they sink.”

At the summit, panelists and attendees said firms were now snapping up software licenses, standing up task forces, and coaching partners on AI talking points for clients.

The question of who foots the bill for all this drew a particularly spicy debate. Some lawyers argued for passing costs through to clients. Others said firms should eat that spend.

Another option that kept popping up was outside capital.

In most states, nonlawyers can’t own law firms. But a workaround designed to help lawyers raise hard cash has recently been making headlines: the MSO, or managed services organization.

Under this dual-entity model, firms keep their partnership structure, and investors own a separate second entity that acts as a vendor to the law firm — essentially the back office — taking care of all non-legal tasks.

Private equity has been actively scouting potential targets. One immigration-lawyer attendee said he’s already fielded two inbound private-equity feelers this year.

However they fund it, the new tech paradigm is remaking the law firm pyramid.

One firm chair said onstage that his office had stopped hiring junior lawyers, largely replacing them with AI.

Another predicted a “law firm diamond” with a slim layer of partners and juniors and a bulge of experienced midlevels doing most of the work. A separate panel floated a rectangular model — one associate per partner.

These discussions kept circling back to one question, however: Where will those midlevel lawyers come from if hiring at the entry level slows down?

At least one executive at a major law firm said its associate class was growing, not shrinking, as it responds to increased client demand.

Eventually, the debate narrowed to a simpler question about the work itself.

In a roundtable discussion, a law school professor asked the room: “What will remain uniquely human in the practice of law?”

Responses came fast. “Happy hour.” “Juries.” “Judgement.” “Nothing.”

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at mrussell@businessinsider.com or Signal at @MeliaRussell.01. Use a personal email address and a non-work device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.