14 DAY TRIAL // In accordance with the prediction of a shareholder who last week noted that Apple’s CFO was likely to retire, the Cupertino computer giant today announced that Peter Oppenheimer and Apple are indeed is parting ways in September.
The press release specifically states that “...Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s senior vice president and CFO, will retire at the end of September.”
As predicted by Forbes contributor and Apple shareholder Chuck Jones, “Luca Maestri, Apple’s vice president of Finance and corporate controller, will succeed Peter as CFO reporting to Apple CEO, Tim Cook.”
Oppenheimer is not leaving Apple immediately so that he can “transition the CFO role to Luca in June and the balance of his responsibilities,” to ensure that everything goes hunky-dory.
The rest of the announcement is packed with statements from CEO Tim Cook, CFO Oppenheimer himself, and a bunch of finance terminology like tax, audit, treasury, and more of that boring finance stuff. No offense to whoever works in the field, of course.
One notable aspect Apple points out is that Oppenheimer has overseen Apple’s cash flow since a time when the company only had $8 billion (€5.81 billion) in annual revenue. Apple currently rakes in over €170 billion (€123.51 billion) annually.
“Peter has served as our CFO for the past decade as Apple’s annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion and our global footprint expanded dramatically,” said CEO Tim Cook.
“His guidance, leadership and expertise have been instrumental to Apple’s success, not only as our CFO but also in many areas beyond finance, as he frequently took on additional activities to assist across the company.”
“His contributions and integrity as our CFO create a new benchmark for public company CFOs. Peter is also a dear friend I always knew I could count on. Although I am sad to see him leave, I am happy he is taking time for himself and his family. As all of us who know him would have expected, he has created a professional succession plan to ensure Apple doesn’t miss a beat,” Cook added.
In related Oppenheimer news, the Apple CFO has recently been welcomed on Goldman Sachs' board of directors, where people are as happy to take him aboard as Apple is sad to see him leave.
Oppenheimer reveals in his own statement that the primary reason for his departure is to take some time for himself and his family, and do some of the stuff that he never got the chance to do, like finish the requirements for his pilot’s license.