Apple Names New CEO, Succeeding Tim Cook

Summary

---

WSJ What’s News – PM Edition

Episode: Apple Names New CEO, Succeeding Tim Cook
Date: April 20, 2026
Host: Alex Osola, The Wall Street Journal

---

Overview

This episode delivers a quick-fire rundown of the day’s top business news, including Apple’s big leadership change, the improving job market for new grads, international tensions affecting markets, Wall Street’s foray into crypto, legal developments involving the Trump administration, and growing unrest among Tesla customers over unfulfilled promises of full self-driving cars.

---

Key Segments & Insights

---

1. Apple Appoints New CEO, Succeeding Tim Cook

[01:00]

• Breaking News: Apple has named John Ternus, current SVP of Hardware Engineering, as its next CEO, succeeding Tim Cook.
  • Tim Cook will transition to Executive Chairman.
  • Ternus’ appointment is effective September 1st.
• Context: Ternus has long been seen as a contender for the top job, known for his significant role in hardware product launches.
• For more information: Visit WSJ.com for further coverage.

Quote:
"Apple has named a new CEO. It's John Ternus, the company's current senior vice president of hardware engineering, long seen as a top contender to succeed Tim Cook."
— Alex Osola [01:00]

---

2. Job Market for Class of 2026 Shows Real Promise

[01:35]

• Improving Outlook: A new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers forecasts a nearly 6% rise in entry-level hiring this spring.
  • Major firms like McKinsey and IBM report upticks in new grad recruitment.
• AI’s Impact: Companies reshaping workforces to fill new roles driven by artificial intelligence, seeking younger workers with AI familiarity; healthcare also hiring briskly.
• Caveats: Not all new jobs are necessarily “first choice” roles; some positions may be less desirable (e.g., fast food, gig economy), raising questions about job quality.

Quote:
"This is a very big surprise. Employers feel the need to replenish their pipelines...They may need to hire more entry level workers, new roles that have been created because of AI. That leads to a need for a different kind of worker, a younger worker who maybe has some experience with AI."
— Ray Smith, WSJ Workplace Reporter [02:06]

---

3. US-Iran Peace Talks Amid Rising Tensions

[03:09]

• Upcoming Talks: The U.S. and Iran expected to meet in Islamabad; Iran has not confirmed attendance yet.
• Political Pressures: With the Trump administration unlikely to extend a ceasefire expiring Wednesday, stakes are high.
• Market Impact:
  • "Stocks slipped today on the tensions in the Persian Gulf....The Nasdaq and the S and P both dropped by 0.3% or less, while the Dow was roughly flat."
    — Alex Osola [03:09]
  • Oil prices surged, with Brent crude up over 5%.
• Historical Note: The Nasdaq’s 13-session winning streak ends; parallels to 1992 noted.

---

4. Wall Street Goes Crypto: NYSE Plans Tokenized Securities

[05:21]

• Emblem of Wall Street Embraces Change: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), founded in 1792, actively exploring crypto’s potential.
• Planned Innovations:
  • Launching a tokenized securities platform, allowing 24/7 trading on blockchain.
  • Use of stablecoins (crypto tied to USD) for trades.
  • Parent company ICE investing in OKEx, a major crypto exchange.
• Risks & Uncertainties:
  • “This has never been done before.”
    — Vicky Go Hwang [06:35]
  • Concerns about trader burnout from extended hours.
• Long-Term Vision: NYSE aims to stay relevant as digital assets become central to finance.

Notable Quotes:
"The New York Stock Exchange symbolizes everything that is Wall street. And Bitcoin, which was created after the global financial crisis, is designed to disrupt Wall Street. So New York Stock exchange is trying to carry this great Wall street institution into the future."
— Vicky Go Hwang, Crypto Reporter [05:21]

---

5. Legal Headlines: Trump Administration and Press Clashes

[07:17]

• Fed Chair Confirmation:
  • Senate Democrats to scrutinize nominee Kevin Warsh’s finances for transparency on investments.
• Meat Packer Investigation:
  • Justice Department’s Antitrust Division investigating possible criminal anti-competitive conduct by large beef companies.
• FBI Director’s Lawsuit:
  • Kash Patel is suing The Atlantic magazine and journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick for $250M, alleging defamation regarding reports on his conduct.
  • Both sides strongly defend their positions.

Quote:
"We have to fight back against the fake news. It's one of the many things that President Trump is so successful at in leading out on because no one is attacked as baselessly as he is and as much as he is."
— Kash Patel, FBI Director [09:06]

---

6. Tesla Owners Sue Over Full Self-Driving Promises

[09:40]

• Background:
  • For years, Elon Musk promised truly autonomous Teslas—customers could sleep, eat, or text while their car drove itself.
• Current Reality:
  • Only a supervised version of Full Self-Driving mode is available; no consumer has access to the hands-off, “unsupervised” tech.
• Legal Action:
  • Thousands of owners have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging fraud: paid thousands for unfulfilled upgrades.
  • Lawsuit seeks damages and fulfillment of promises.
• Brand Tension:
  • Many early buyers feel burned; hardware now outdated; uncertainty over whether they’ll remain loyal customers.
• Tesla’s Response:
  • The company and legal team declined to comment. Earnings report due Wednesday.

Quote:
"The pitch Musk has made is that you will be able to step into your Tesla, enter an address and go to sleep, text, eat a meal, just live in your car as if you have a chauffeur. And that's what people don't quite have yet."
— Becky Peterson, WSJ Tesla Reporter [10:07]

Memorable Moment:
"These are customers who bought the car in 2017 or 2019 and paid for this lifetime upgrade and then didn't get the service because the technology wasn't ready, despite what Tesla and despite what Musk said."
— Becky Peterson [10:45]

---

Noteworthy Timestamps

• Apple CEO Change: [01:00]
• Grad Hiring Outlook: [02:06]
• US-Iran Tensions: [03:09]
• NYSE & Crypto: [05:21]
• Trump Admin Legal News: [07:17]
• Tesla Lawsuits: [09:40]

---

Tone & Delivery

• The episode is brisk, fact-dense, and slightly skeptical—consistent with the Wall Street Journal's journalistic tone.
• Experts and reporters are crisp and measured, offering nuance (Ray Smith caveating job market optimism; Vicky Go Hwang noting risks in 24/7 markets).

---

Summary

This edition of WSJ What’s News covers urgent headlines with depth and context. Apple initiates a leadership transition, the job market shows signs of optimism with underlying questions, geopolitical tensions rattle markets, and Wall Street’s oldest institutions push into digital assets. Meanwhile, Tesla faces restless customers and legal heat for broken promises, all amid ongoing political-legal clashes in D.C. For further details on any headline, listeners are encouraged to consult additional WSJ resources.

---

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This episode is brought to you by Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate. C According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs have four times more applicants than non sponsored Jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply.

[Alex Osola]

Why the class of 2026 might be graduating into the best job market in years plus Tesla owners are pushing back against the company they say promised them self driving cars and never delivered.

[Becky Peterson]

The pitch Musk has made is that you will be able to step into your Tesla, enter an address and go to sleep, text, eat a meal, just live in your car as if you have a chauffeur. And that's people don't quite have yet

[Alex Osola]

and Apple has named a new CEO it's Monday, April 20th. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of what's news, top headlines and business stories that move the world today. This just in, Apple has named a new CEO. It's John Turnus, the company's current senior vice president of hardware engineering, long seen as a top contender to succeed Tim Cook. Cook will become Apple's executive chairman. Ternus appointment will take effect September 1st. For more on this developing story, visit WSJ.com. We've got some potentially good news for the class of 2026. Entry level hiring seems to be picking up this year. A widely watched survey by the national association of Colleges and Employers out today shows that employers expected to boost hires of new grads by almost 6% this spring. Big companies such as McKinsey and IBM also say they've increased graduate hiring this year. WSJ workplace reporter Ray Smith says that's a big turnaround from the past few years.

[Ray Smith]

This is a very big surprise. Employers feel the need to replenish their pipelines. They've been holding back on hiring for the past several years and some of the economic uncertainty has lifted in some ways for companies. But they're also realizing their needs have changed and so they they may need to hire more entry level workers, new roles that have been created because of AI. That leads to a need for a different kind of worker, a younger worker who maybe has some experience with AI. But also we're seeing a lot of demand in healthcare that's hiring briskly. But also some of these jobs that these college graduates are taking, we don't yet know whether they are first option jobs or last resort jobs. We talked with a zip recruiter economist who frankly said that some, some of them could be fast food jobs or doordash jobs. So we still have to caveat this in terms of whether this is all good news or whether there might be some cracks in this.

[Alex Osola]

The US And Iran plan to hold peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan this week. Though Tehran hasn't publicly confirmed it will send representatives to the meetings. People familiar with the matter said that Iran has told regional mediators it would send a negotiating team tomorrow. A White House official said that President Trump doesn't seem inclined to extend the ceasefire with Iran that is set to expire on Wednesday evening, putting pressure on the talks. Stocks slipped today on the tensions in the Persian Gulf. President Trump has threatened to attack Iran's infrastructure if the country doesn't make a deal. The Nasdaq and the S and P both dropped by 0.3% or less while the Dow was roughly flat. The dip in the Nasdaq broke a 13 session winning streak, its longest since 1992. Meanwhile, oil prices climbed with Brent crude, the international benchmark rising more than 5%. Coming up, why a more than 200 year old wall street institution is embracing crypto. That's after the break.

[Roomy]

K Pop Demon Hunters, Hijaboy's Breakfast Meal and Hunt Tricks meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that, roomy?

[Alex Osola]

It's not a battle.

[Roomy]

So glad the Saja boys could take

[Podcast Host]

breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.

[Alex Osola]

It is an honor to share.

[Vicky Go Hwang]

No, it's our honor.

[Alex Osola]

It is our larger honor. No, really stop.

[Roomy]

You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side

[Alex Osola]

a participating McDonald's while supplies last. Opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Iconic, right? When you hear this weekdays at 9:30am Eastern. It means that the exchange is open for trading. But the way Wall street has moved in recent years, even having trading hours can seem pretty old school. The Exchange, established in 1792, is as old school as it gets. And now it's setting itself up for the new. Vicky Go Hwang, who covers crypto for the Journal, joins us now to discuss the exchange's attempt at transforming into a crypto powerhous. Vicki, why is the New York Stock Exchange interested in crypto?

[Vicky Go Hwang]

The New York Stock Exchange symbolizes everything that is Wall street. And Bitcoin, which was created after the global financial crisis is designed to disrupt Wall Street. So New York Stock exchange is trying to carry this great Wall street institution into the future. It's also a way for them to kind of recognize that digital assets are here. And then blockchain may be important, if not a major part of the future for the financial services industry.

[Alex Osola]

And how are we seeing this transformation already starting to happen for the New York Stock Exchange?

[Vicky Go Hwang]

The New York Stock Exchange announced earlier this year that they're going to launch a tokenized securities platform where investors can trade securities like stocks 24. 7 on a distributed ledger, which is the blockchain. And investors will be able to use a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoins, which are pegged to the US Dollar, to trade these tokenized securities. Intercontinental Exchange, which is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, they recently made this investment into OKEx, which is another crypto exchange which was originally founded in China. So it does seem like that they're planning a lot of different things.

[Alex Osola]

And what does this functionally change for

[Vicky Go Hwang]

traders in the future? If there is a fully functioning tokenized securities platform which traders can potentially expect, being able to trade 24. 7 or just being able to use the tokens that are representations of stocks on the blockchain to do other stuff in the crypto space, it definitely comes with risks because this has never been done before. And we've also heard from a lot of traders or experienced market participants that trading more than eight hours a day could lead to burnout.

[Alex Osola]

That was WSJ reporter Vicky Kahuang. Thanks, Vicky.

[Vicky Go Hwang]

Thank you for having me.

[Alex Osola]

And three pieces of news today about the Trump administration. We're exclusively reporting that during Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing tomorrow, Senate Democrats plan to press him on his finances. A staff memo sent around by the senators says Warsh hasn't been as transparent in disclosing his assets as past nominees and that the public can't tell whether his investments include banks the Fed regulates. As we reported last week, Warsh disclosed assets worth more than $100 million, but said that due to confidentiality agreements, he wouldn't identify the underlying holdings of his largest individual investments. The Office of Government Ethics said that the disclosure complies with federal ethics law, except for a few dozen holdings, and that Warsh will be in compliance only after he divests those holdings. Warsh has agreed to do this if he's confirmed. In another exclusive, we report that the Justice Department's Antitrust Division is investigating whether large meat packers engaged in criminal, anti competitive conduct. The Justice Department disclosed an investigation after Trump accused beef companies of manipulating prices for cattle they buy from ranchers and driving up prices for consumers, but officials haven't revealed that it is a criminal matter. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. Meatpacker JBS said the company isn't aware of a criminal investigation involving jbs, while Tyson, Cargill and National Beef didn't comment. And FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic magazine and one of its writers, Sarah Fitzpatrick. In the suit, which was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C. patel alleges that an article about government officials concern about his drinking and conduct was malicious and factually inaccurate. He's seeking $250 million in damages. He told Fox News Maria Bartiromo over the weekend that he planned to sue.

[Kash Patel]

We have to fight back against the fake news. It's the one. It's one of the many things that President Trump is so successful at in leading out on because no one is attacked as baselessly as he is and as much as he is.

[Alex Osola]

Patel's defamation suit adds to the growing list of legal disputes between the Trump administration and news outlets over coverage and press access. The Atlantic says it stands by its reporting and will defend itself against the suit. As the reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick noted Friday night on Ms. Now I stand by

[Podcast Host]

every word of this reporting. We have excellent attorneys.

[Alex Osola]

For years, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed that the company's fully autonomous vehicles were just around the corner. That promise helped keep Tesla stock near all time highs. Now, though, thousands of Tesla customers are pushing back. They've got a powerful navigation system called supervised full self driving mode. But Becky Peterson, who covers Tesla for the Journal, says these customers are looking to hold the company accountable for over promising and under delivering on the fully autonomous version.

[Becky Peterson]

The unsupervised version of full self driving isn't something that any customers have access to right now. The pitch Musk has made is that you will be able to step into your Tesla, enter an address and go to sleep, text, eat a meal, just live in your car as if you have a chauffeur. And that's what people don't quite have yet.

[Alex Osola]

In the US Tesla owners have filed a class action lawsuit that alleges that Tesla charged customers thousands of dollars in upgrades for a product that didn't exist and still doesn't. Becky says that could be bad news for Tesla, whose share of the electric vehicle market has fallen.

[Becky Peterson]

They're not able to get away from the customers who want access to this technology. These are customers who bought the car in 2017 or 2019 and paid for this lifetime upgrade and then didn't get the service because the technology wasn't ready, despite what Tesla and despite what Musk said. Now there's a question of are these people going to buy new Teslas? How do they feel about the brand? Someone like Tom Losavia, who is the California lawyer suing Tesla. He says, I bought this car in 2017, the hardware on the car is out of date and you promised me full self driving and I've never gotten it. So he is both asking for Tesla to make good on not delivering this product to him, but also he wants damages for them for false marketing and over promising. On the earnings call, Musk and other executives will say, well, we know we're probably going to have to update this hardware, but we don't want to do it until we have a final product, until we have an unsupervised version of the Autonomy software that we know is going to be stable.

[Alex Osola]

For this story, Tesla and its lawyers didn't respond to requests for comment. Tesla is expected to report its most recent earnings on Wednesday after market close. And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis and Pierre Biennime with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osoleff for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

[Columbia Brand Voice]

You can't reason with the sun. Trust us, we've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's Omnish technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your [e-mail] to spend more time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome. Columbia engineered for whatever.