Burberry Group's long-standing chief Angela Ahrendts would be leaving the fashion house, according to the company's announcement. She would be replaced by Burberry's chief creative officer Christopher Bailey. Ahrendts would be stepping down as the fashion house chief to join Apple Inc in the middle of 2014. The statement did not clarify the reasons of Ahrendts's departure, but Burberry chairman Sir John Peace said the decision was a natural progression.

Ahrendts' new position at Apple would be a senior vice president with oversight of Apple retail and online stores. The position was reportedly a newly-created one for Ahrendts's capacity. Ahrendts would be reporting to Apple chief executive Tim Cook.

Ahrendts said in a statement, "Burberry is in brilliant shape. I am confident that Christopher, as one of this generation's greatest visionaries, will continue to lead Burberry to new heights."

Burberry said Ahrendts and Bailey would be working together in the next few months to ensure a smooth transition. 

The fashion house as a globally-reconized brand was credited to Ahrendts' decade-long service to Burberry as a CEO. In its 2012 annual report, Burberry earned EUR1.85 billion in revenues with 473 retail outlets wordlwide. Ahrendts' pay package was a total EUR16.9 million, which made her the top one and the first woman executive with the biggest executive pay in the male-dominated FTSE 100 index. She bested the second biggest executive earner by more than EUR5 million.