What Tim Cook told employees on his last day at Apple

Tim Cook stepped down as Apple CEO on Monday, with parting words for the company's employees who, he wrote, "share a belief that what we build matters."

"We have both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than we found it. That purpose is part of what makes this place extraordinary," Cook wrote.

"We have made it possible to leave our 'dent in the universe,' as Steve once described it," — a reference to Apple founder Steve Jobs — "because of who we are and what we believe, because of what we value and how we see the world," Cook wrote in the remarkably heartfelt message.

"How fortunate we are. How fortunate I am."

John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering, takes over. Cook, CEO since 2011 , will remain on as executive chair.

"I take enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John," Cook said of his successor. "Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does and I could not be more excited for his leadership."

Cook also posted a farewell message on X.