Apple boss slashes wages – for reasons

Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to earn significantly less in the current fiscal year. After criticism from shareholders and Cook’s own recommendation, fewer shares will be awarded to him, Apple announced in documents before its general meeting in March.

Moreover, their allocation will depend more than before on the state of affairs. Cook’s base salary of $3 million remains the same.

Another 40 million in share form

For the fiscal year ending September 2022, Cook received a total of $99.4 million in compensation, according to documents released Friday night. Most of that – nearly $83 million – was the share package.

Bonus payments of $12 million were added to base pay — as well as about $1.4 million Apple spent on security measures and private jet flights mandated by the board of directors.

Compensation for the current fiscal year is now $49 million, of which $40 million is in the form of stock. Where the allocation of half of the shares used to depend on the state of affairs, this will now be 75 percent.

The Board of Directors emphasized that the quota will remain at least as high in the coming years. Some major shareholders had argued for a change of course in this direction.

How high the actual income of the Apple boss will be depends on the share price. For the past year, the Board of Directors had targeted income of $84 million, including $75 million in equity. In the end, however, the shares were worth more.

Shortly before his death in 2011, Cook took over the leadership of Apple from co-founder and tech visionary Steve Jobs. He also guided the company through the corona pandemic with record results. However, Apple had a problem last Christmas: production downtime due to corona measures in China caused longer waiting times for the important iPhone 14 Pro model.

The 62-year-old Cook has publicly promised to donate his fortune to charity.

(dsc/sda/dpa)