Apple COO Tim Cook in line to fill CEO spot at General Motors?

John Brownlee ()

Apple COO Tim Cook in line to fill CEO spot at General Motors?According to a lone anonymous tipster writing into to Silicon Alley Insider, Apple COO Tim Cook is executive search firm Specer Stuart’s first choice for CEO of General Motors.

According to their tipster:

[Interim GM CEO Edward E. Whitacre] wants the candidate to come from a company known for operational excellence, innovation and customer satisfaction and in addition he is looking for someone that has turnaround experience. It also doesn’t hurt that [Tim] has been able to work with Jobs. Whitacre does want to stay on as Chairman.  Also, Cook has been the key link to AT&T and should understand the culture that Whitacre,  [a former AT&T CEO] built.

Despite the notoriously unreliable nature of lone, anonymous tipsters and their “inside information,” there’s a lot of reason to be skeptical here. Apple is already clearly grooming Cook for Jobs’ CEO position, whenever he deigns to step down, and there’s little doubt given Cook’s recent success leading Apple in Jobs’ absence that he would be a natural fit for the position. Trying to resurrect a moribund American car industry during the worst crisis in their history seems like a sucker’s bet in comparison.

But Cook might relish the challenge. Moreover, Cook’s own career aspirations might lead him to consider a career outside of Apple: if he’s got the taste of ultimate power over a company in his mouth after his six-month stint at the head of Apple, he might be unwilling to wait for Jobs’ departure.

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In fact, who knows if Jobs even has an intention of parting Apple? Right now, it certainly seems unlikely, which means Cook’s career is in stasis indefinitely: there’s just no more rungs for him to climb in Apple until Jobs retires.

But all of this is just musing: the secretive Cook knows better than anyone what his internal career prospects and aspirations are. There’s worse things, after all, than being number two at the headquarters of one of the most revolutionary and profitable electronics manufacturer on Earth.

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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  • http://www.toxicspark.com Andrew Macdonald

    Apple would do everything in their power to ensure Cook stays on with them. They know he is the best person for Jobs’ role when he steps down, whether thats in 12 months or 12 years, Apple will do everything they can to keep him.

    It just depends on whether Cook is willing to wait for the Apple position, or whether he wants to lead another big company right away.

    Only time will tell, i guess.

  • CaryMG

    So ….
    He wants to leave the company that makes him what he is?

    GO!
    And “good riddance”, I say.

  • MacRat

    One week having to deal with the auto unions will lead to a nervous breakdown.

  • Mattzook

    Maybe GM wants Tim Cook, granted working for any American auto manufacturer is a hateful thankless job. Did Tim Cook say he wanted to leave Apple?

    Why are we jumping to conclusions.

    And IF Tim Cook wanted to leave for GM, then good for him. It’s not like he’s going to do anything at GM that will directly hurt or compete against Apple.

    It’s not like those ex-Apple Execs who defected to Google, and are now helping Google to try to cripple Apple.