Apple Services VP Peter Stern, Seen as Successor to Eddy Cue, to Depart

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg News

Peter Stern, vice president of services at Apple Inc., speaks during an event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, U.S., on Monday, March 25, 2019. The company is unveiling streaming video and news subscriptions, key parts of Apple's push to transform itself into a leading digital services provider. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The Apple Inc. executive who oversees the business side of its TV+, iCloud and Apple One bundles, as well as News+, is leaving the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter, adding to recent upheaval.

Peter Stern, who served as vice president of services, was seen internally and externally as a potential successor to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. In response to his departure, Apple is dividing up Stern’s responsibilities between multiple executives, including Oliver Schusser and Robert Kondrk, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the moves aren’t public.

Prior to their promotions, Schusser was Apple’s vice president in charge of Apple Music, international services and Beats. Kondrk has run the design teams in charge of how users interact with Apple’s services.

An Apple spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move adds to a wave of senior executives leaving the iPhone maker in recent months. In the second half of last year, the Cupertino, California-based company lost its head of industrial design, chief privacy officer, information systems chief, head of its online store, vice president of procurement, and vice presidents of hardware and software engineering.

Apple is losing a particularly influential executive in Stern. He led the charge for the company to expand its subscriptions business, partner with other video streaming services within the Apple TV app and launch bundles of its services. Under Cue and Stern, Apple’s services business has become one of its most critical divisions, generating almost $80 billion in revenue in fiscal 2022.

Schusser, also seen as a potential successor to Cue, will likely see his profile raised significantly by the change. Cue, 58, has worked at Apple for more than 30 years. He hasn’t announced plans to retire, though Cue has been preparing potential successors for the past few years.

Stern was one of 12 of Cue’s direct reports, alongside the heads of Apple TV+, Apple Pay, advertising and the software engineering leaders for Apple’s services.

Insider earlier reported on Stern’s departure.