Incoming Apple CEO John Ternus met The Pokémon Company workforce and Pikachu at Apple Park on Thursday. Tim Cook shared the go to on X forward of the September 1 handover.
Cook provides up day-to-day management subsequent week. The assembly, subsequently, launched Apple’s subsequent chief to one of many largest franchises in gaming.
Apple CEO John Ternus Talks Gaming Before the Handover
Cook stored the tone gentle. He set out a three-item agenda for the day, particularly introducing Ternus to the Pokémon workforce, discussing gaming, and retaining Pikachu away from the Apple Park pond. Two of the three labored, he joked.
The video he posted follows Pikachu throughout the campus. The mascot dances below the rainbow arch and helps itself to fruit within the orchard. The pond, judging by Cook’s punchline, gained in the long run.
Ternus arrives with a low public profile after 20 years inside Apple’s {hardware} engineering group. Apple named him chief government in April. Cook has led the corporate since 2011 and retains his board seat as government chairman.
Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and chief government of The Pokémon Company, joined the go to. Pokémon has shipped cellular titles on iOS for a decade. Apple, in the meantime, retains treating video games as a providers development engine.
Apple shares closed at $314.58 on Thursday, up 0.36% on the day. The inventory has added 37.6% over the previous yr. It has slipped 7.5% up to now month, nevertheless, after the Q3 earnings response in late July.
Ternus additionally takes the job eight days earlier than Apple’s September 9 iPhone keynote. Apple has billed the occasion with the road “Surprise and shine,” and the iPhone 18 Pro, plus a primary foldable iPhone lead expectations.
Nintendo Stock Climbs as Pokémon Worlds Opens in San Francisco
Nintendo gained 3.5% to ¥9,032 in Tokyo on Friday, or about $57 at present charges. The inventory nonetheless trades roughly 38% below its ¥14,630 report from final yr, value near $92.
Nintendo co-owns The Pokémon Company with Game Freak and Creatures. Pokémon income subsequently reaches Nintendo not directly, on high of Switch software program gross sales.
Nintendo’s fiscal 2026 income practically doubled to ¥2.31 trillion, round $14.5 billion, as Switch 2 shipped. Management has since reaffirmed steering of 16.5 million Switch 2 items for the present yr.
The timing helps. The Pokémon World Championships open at San Francisco’s Moscone Center on Friday and run via Sunday. Gaming has moved markets repeatedly this month. Take-Two misplaced billions in worth after a GTA 6 leak, then answered with a Netflix reveal.
For crypto readers, the Apple CEO handover issues much less for video games than for App Store coverage. Ternus inherits the principles that resolve how wallets and fee apps attain iPhone customers, an ignored crypto angle of the transition.