Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 9/21/26

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer

This episode of Mad Money serves as a retrospective 'Mastercard' celebrating the legendary tenure of Apple CEO Tim Cook. Through archival interv

Key takeaways

• Tim Cook's extraordinary tenure as CEO officially ended on September 1st, 2026.
• Apple's services revenue grew from approximately $9 billion in annual sales to more than $100 billion under Cook's leadership.

Main topics

• Tim Cook's retirement and legacy
• Apple's ecosystem of hardware and services

Notable quotes

People should own Apple, not trade it.

Conclusion

The episode provides a profound look at how steady leadership and a fo

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. What made you confident that you could do something that hadn't been done before? I have no fear of failure. Trailblazing women changing the game. One of my favorite pieces of advice, think about what your boss's boss needs. Leadership can look in many, many different forms. It really does come down to just trusting yourself. Life is short and you just gotta think big to accomplish big things. Julia Boorstin hosts... CNBC Changemakers and Power Players. New episodes every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (1:00) My mission is simple. To make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere, Speaker 6 (1:09) and I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now. Speaker 1 (1:17) Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Kramerica. I hope you're my friends. I'm just about trying to make you some money. My job is not just to entertain, but to teach. So call me at 1-800-743-CNBC or tweet me at Jim Kramer. Tonight, we're hosting a Mad Money Masterclass. We're cracking open the vault so you can learn from a legend. We want to shine a light on one of America's greatest business people and a fantastic story, Tim Cook's remarkable run at Apple. Tim's extraordinary tenure as CEO ended September 1st, 2026. And I'm looking back at more than a decade of our conversations, because if you want to understand what terrific leadership really looks like, you can learn a lot from watching Tim Cook. So tonight, as part of our Invest in America series, we're revisiting some of my favorite moments with Tim and the lessons investors can take from one of the great CEOs of our time. And our story starts in 2015. For Mad Money's 10th anniversary, Tim surprised me by calling into the show. I had no idea that phone call would begin a decade of conversations on this set at Apple headquarters, inside Apple stores and on American factory floors. This is where it all began. Take a look. Let's Speaker 6 (2:37) take a call. Go to Tim in California. Tim. Speaker 4 (2:40) Hey, Jim. I'm calling from Cupertino, California, to be exact. This is Tim Cook at Apple, and I want to congratulate you on 10 great years of mad money. Speaker 6 (2:50) Wow. Speaker 6 (2:55) you for running the greatest company on earth and for creating such amazing wealth and the best products on earth for everybody. You have done a remarkable job, Tim. I am honored that you're calling in. Speaker 4 (3:05) It's a great team here that does it. Jim, you've been a champion for American innovation. And of course, Apple feels the same way. And we love the fact that you highlight innovation as a centerpiece of your show. Speaker 6 (3:18) Well, you know what? You make us proud and you do such incredible, incredible innovation yourself every time. You know, I am totally involved with what you're doing for the for the phone, but of course, for the watch and for the research kit. I basically am looking at your company as being the health company of the future. I'm looking at you as being the credit card company of the future. There really are the great growth areas you are in Speaker 4 (3:42) charge of right now, Tim. You know, it's really incredible. In the first 24 hours of Research Kit, we've had 11,000 people sign up for a study in cardiovascular disease through Stanford University's app. And to put that in perspective, Stanford has told us that it would have taken normally 50 medical centers an entire year to sign up that many participants. So Research Kit is an absolute game changer. I think that this is the Speaker 6 (4:12) most, but people don't understand why you absolutely have to have this device, which is why I can't, I can't wait till it comes out. I also am focused on the fact, Tim, that your product for retail with Apple Pay is by far the best. I have to believe that given the banks, given Visa, given MasterCard, it's perfectly realistic to believe that the customers will demand it from every major retailer in the world. Do you think I'm right? Speaker 4 (4:34) I totally think you're right. You said last year, I think, when it first came out, that it would take the country by storm, and it's doing it. We've already got 700,000 locations accepting Apple Pay. And by the way, we really want to add your bar San Miguel to that list. Done! Done! And if you do that, I'm joining you there. Speaker 4 (4:58) You are too much. Tim, I Speaker 6 (5:00) got to ask you, Tim, we always hear that the company is so big, whatever. I mean, I think you're, I look at your company and I think it's not that expensive. You've got the best balance sheet in the world, country, company, doesn't matter. You know my mantra. People should own Apple, not trade it. Do you think that eventually people will understand what I'm talking about? Speaker 4 (5:25) I think eventually they will, yes. I mean, you know, for people that have owned the stock for 10 years or so, our stock price 10 years ago when you started Mad Money was less than $6 on a split-adjusted basis. And so you can bet those people are extremely happy right now. Speaker 6 (5:42) Well, everyone's thrilled with what you've done. When you come to work every day, I know you come in hungry. The competition, are you feeling like that you've kind of left it behind, or just every day you come in and say, someone might have a better mousetrap? Speaker 4 (5:56) We're always paranoid. We live paranoid, and we always want the very best product. And so if we're not beating someone else, we're trying to beat the thing that we have currently shipping. Everybody here lives on edge. Speaker 6 (6:09) Well, do you think that— People are worried about the world. People are worried about Europe. People are worried about currency. Are those just the kind of things that Wall Street worries about? And if you're at home or you're watching and you own 100 shares of Apple, you should just be thinking that Tim Cook and the team are ready for pretty much anything that the world might throw at us. Speaker 4 (6:28) Your currency is clearly a problem, but frankly, the best companies will figure out a way to manage it. Speaker 6 (6:35) And I regard your company with the highest ideals and the greatest manufacturing. I know every day when you come to work, I feel you must think that you have a stewardship that you've got to fulfill because of Steve Jobs. I want you to know that you have far exceeded whatever anyone, I think, could have done. But you still walk in his footsteps. How do you feel about the legacy? Speaker 4 (6:59) You know, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about Steve. And he is still the core part of Apple. His DNA is deep in the company. And his office is still next to mine with his name on the door. And the values that he placed in here and sort of the spirit that we are here to make the very best products in the world that enrich people's lives, that is still the centerpiece of this company. Speaker 6 (7:28) And do you think that there are, I know that from Walter Osun's book, that the pipeline that you're using really, while it definitely had good things in it from Steve, a lot of these devices are yours and your team's, aren't they? Speaker 4 (7:42) Oh, absolutely, yes. I mean, we're now quite a ways away from, unfortunately, his passing. And so there's been a lot of things that have started in creation after his passing. Speaker 6 (7:57) Let me ask you about where you think they're going. I know that the car, the home, do you think of them as connectivity, social mobile cloud connectivity? Do you think these are the next frontiers or is there a frontier that I'm missing? I'm not thinking big enough. Speaker 4 (8:11) Well, I think those are two big ones that you talked about. I think health may be the biggest one of all because for years people have depended on strictly somebody else to determine their health. And now these devices, in essence, empower people to manage and track their own health and fitness. And so I think that market is probably significantly underestimated. Speaker 6 (8:37) Well, let's go there because I know my cardiologist, well, working on the Stanford project, knows about it and told me that it's within our lifetime that we will have your watch and your watch will show whether my blood pressure spiked, which it did, by the way, when you called because I had no idea you were calling. But we will have from your watch diabetes, maybe blood pressure, maybe even cancer detection because of the great app system you have and because of Speaker 4 (9:05) the Speaker 6 (9:05) health care. Do you think this is within the realm of our lifetime? Speaker 4 (9:08) Oh, I absolutely do. I absolutely do. And, you know, discovering and curing some of these diseases will push our life expectancy much longer than it currently is. And so we'll be able to enjoy mad money 50 years from now. Speaker 6 (9:26) Tim, I got to tell you, I am deeply honored that you called in. I think you're the best we have, maybe the best it's ever been. Thank you so much, Tim Cook. Speaker 4 (9:35) I really appreciate that. Jim, you say that some people want to make friends. I just want to make money. But let me tell you, you've made at least one friend in me, and I wish you all the best. So happy anniversary. Thank Speaker 6 (9:46) you so much, Tim Cook, CEO of the biggest company in the world, Apple. Great to talk to you, sir. Yes, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Wow. Speaker 5 (9:55) Coming up, we'll turn back the clock a full decade when Tim Cook visited Kramer on the Mad Money set. Next. Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow at Jim Kramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Kramer. Hashtag Mad Mentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneyatcnbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC. Miss something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com. Speaker 3 (10:27) What made you confident that you could do something that hadn't been done before? I have no fear of failure. Trailblazing women changing the game. One of my favorite pieces of advice, think about what your boss's boss needs. Leadership can look in many, many different forms. It really does come down to just trusting yourself. Life is short and you just gotta think big to accomplish big things. Julia Boorstin hosts CNBC Changemakers and Power Players. New episodes every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (11:04) Welcome back to our Mad Money Masterclass. A year after our first phone call, Tim Cook joined me for our first sit-down interview on Mad Money's set. Apple was at an inflection point. The watch was brand new. The iPhone was changing the world. And while Wall Street focused on each tick in the stock, Tim was focused on the customer and where Apple could go next. And there's a lesson in that. Great CEOs build for the long term. It's one reason I've spent all these years. saying the same thing. Own Apple, don't trade it. You can hear the beginnings of that story right here. Take a look. Speaker 2 (11:41) The smartphone market, eventually everyone in the world will have a smartphone. Penetration today is in the 40s. Long way to go. Emerging markets like India, the LTE penetration is zero.