Mark Gurman, in his Power On newsletter at Bloomberg (paywalled; archive), unambiguously refutes the recent Financial Times report that Tim Cook will step down as CEO “as soon as next year”:

Based on everything I’ve learned in recent weeks, I don’t believe a departure by the middle of next year is likely. In fact, I would be shocked if Cook steps down in the time frame outlined by the FT. Some people have speculated that the story was a “test balloon” orchestrated by Apple or someone close to Cook to prepare Wall Street for a change, but that isn’t the case either. I believe the story was simply false.

In linking to the FT report, I suggested it “could be a scoop, a PR plant, or the entire piece could be based on a few people setting up a WebEx call and ordering pizza.” I didn’t consider “simply false” as an option. That’s pretty unequivocal.

Gurman also calls the FT report “premature,” with “few signs internally that he’s about to hand off the baton.”

Will FT respond?