Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is Ron Johnson leaving Apple a sign of things to come?

I

i0Nic

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 17, 2006
1,456
68
Sydney, Australia
It was reported today that the retail genius behind the Apple stores, Ron Johnson, is leaving the company in November. This will be the second senior vice president to leave Apple recently, with Bertrand Serlet who is credited as being the father of Mac OSX leaving recently.

Could it be that these top level execs are leaving due to Steve Jobs diminishing role at the company? These people were handpicked by him, and have flourished under his mentorship.

What would happen if Jony Ive was next to leave?

It's a worrying sign, and hopefully not a trend.. but could Ron Johnson have seen the writing on the wall?

What do you think?

Look forward to hearing some more responses!
 
Last edited:
RafaelT

RafaelT

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2010
1,169
15
NM
It's not a big deal. Apple obviously needs to get another great leader in that role but I think it is safe to say that by now they have a pretty good grasp on retail.
 
nuckinfutz

nuckinfutz

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2002
5,542
406
Middle Earth
Please find better material to blog about.

Jon Rubinstein left and is now at Palm.

Tony Fadell left

Avi Tevanian left

Executives move on to other opportunities. Apple's success comes from the sum of all it's parts...not just a handful of executives.
 
labman

labman

macrumors 604
Jun 9, 2009
7,786
2
Mich near Detroit
OMG it's the end!!!!!


images
 
saving107

saving107

macrumors 603
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca
Though I know what this thread is about (Page Click), I feel that I want to reply.

Bertrand Serlet worked with Steve Jobs for 22 years at NeXT and Apple, he is 51 years old and has accomplished a lot in his carrier and wanted to move on and try something new, not a sign of whats to come.

I've worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering.
Click to expand...
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/2...ertrand-serlet-as-apples-svp-of-mac-software/

Ron Johnson was a Senior Vice President at Apple who came to over 11 years ago from Target (FYI, Target is doing just fine without him) and is moving on to a CEO position at JC Penny, a career move that is really hard to pass up and again, not a sign of whats to come post Steve Jobs at Apple.
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/14/apple-retail-chief-ron-johnson-departing-to-lead-j-c-penney/

Like other have mentioned, many others have moved on to better careers and is nothing to worry about. At any company (not just Apple) CEO's, VP's and Top Level executives come and go all the time, this is nothing new.
 
I

i0Nic

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 17, 2006
1,456
68
Sydney, Australia
Yes, top level executives leave companies all the time. The difference is that at Apple the top level team have all been a part of the company for a long time, and have been handpicked by Steve Jobs when he came back to the company over a decade ago.

What happens when the man that runs that team, that picked each of the members, leaves? The company will go on and be successful but perhaps that team will continue to be split up - it has already been speculated that Jony Ive may go back to England, he could be next to leave. If enough of these high level managers leave, could it be enough to change the scope of the company, Could we be at the cusp of a seachange at Apple?
 
milani

milani

macrumors 68000
Aug 8, 2008
1,666
0
To the OP's speculation - that seems very unlikely.

In this particular case, Johnson has done pretty much all he can for Apple in his role, and he has been wildly successful, to boot. It sounds to me like he is simply moving onto another challenge, and one can hardly blame him for wanting to pursue a new course.

I really wouldn't read too much into it. That said, if Ive, Schiller, or Forstall decides to leave Apple then you are definitely permitted to panic.
 
B

bniu

macrumors 65816
Mar 21, 2010
1,125
306
reminds me of my high school's math department, we were rated near the top of our state year in and year out and we were led by a fantastic group of teachers who knew how to get the most out of their already talented pool of students. The only problem was that group of teachers were all about the same age and they all retired at the same time. All of a sudden, our dept was being led by newbies who had no chance to learn any tricks of the trade from the masters and it's gone downhill since...

point is, Apple will be fine as long as it's not everyone leaving at once. As long as their departures are staggered, then Apple will have the chance to mentor the new guys coming in before the old guard steps away. What you don't want is the entire leadership retiring/moving on at the same time.
 
S

synagence

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2008
879
0
Its clearly a career move... He's been offered a CEO role which he can't have at Apple obviously and he's taken Apple retail from nothing to one of the worlds flagship retail experiences and most profitable per sqft .... thats one hell of an achievement and he probably felt he'd done enough and wanted a fresh challenge.
 
Z

ZombieZakk

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2011
353
25
the thing to remember is all of those execs were handpicked and helped to shape apple to what it is today but its not like every solitary idea is there's alone, they have teams who have these ideals and goals instilled in them and they understand what the vision apple has is so even when these execs leave, the work they have done and everything they put in place will stay and will be improved upon as new generations of execs come in as long as they choose ones who share apples vision and jobs' everything will be fine.

I think if you look back to when jobs was fired and apple was in trouble, they knew they messed up because the company stopped being about visions and trying to do things in a new way, with the return of jobs they were reborn and rebooted and i think it has instilled and left a lasting effect on the company as a whole.
 
M

mike5411

macrumors regular
Jan 15, 2008
135
0
I find it interesting as well. Although it may seem like the answer is clear: JC Penny awarded him 50 million in restricted stock.

However after a little investigation, "As part of the package, Penney will give Johnson restricted stock worth $50 million, which replaced the value of the equity award that Apple gave him that were due to vest on March 24, 2012. The new Penney restricted stock vests on January 27, 2012."

That seems strange to me. Why would he leave apple before his $50m stock vests in 9 months?
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Apple has done a remarkable job at retaining its executives. I think as time goes on, they will continue to see some of them leave. How long do any of you stay at a job? People move on.
 
D

DeathChill

macrumors 68000
Jul 15, 2005
1,663
90
mike5411 said:
I find it interesting as well. Although it may seem like the answer is clear: JC Penny awarded him 50 million in restricted stock.

However after a little investigation, "As part of the package, Penney will give Johnson restricted stock worth $50 million, which replaced the value of the equity award that Apple gave him that were due to vest on March 24, 2012. The new Penney restricted stock vests on January 27, 2012."

That seems strange to me. Why would he leave apple before his $50m stock vests in 9 months?
Click to expand...

Well, apparently he's already made over $400 million from working at Apple, so money probably is no longer a motivator.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy

OldSchoolMacGuy

Suspended
Jul 10, 2008
4,197
9,050
People leave companies all the time. For whatever reason, every little thing that happens at Apple becomes a big public spectacle while it happens at Google, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, and other places every day.

I wouldn't sweat it. Apple fans need to stop believing that just 1 person makes this company who they are and just that one person is make or break for them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom