CEO of Apple, Tim CookHis salary is expected to be cut by almost 50% this year to around $49m (£40m) after the billionaire boss asked the company to “adjust his pay” in light of feedback from shareholders who were disappointed by the company’s lower share price. .
It was Cook, 62, who became CEO after co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down before his death in 2011. Paid out $99.4 million in 2022 And $98.8 million in 2021. But the company said in a regulatory filing Late Thursday evening it set a “target compensation” of $49 million for 2023.
“The Compensation Committee weighed shareholder opinions, Apple’s exceptional performance, and a recommendation by Mr. Cook to adjust his compensation in light of the comments received,” an Apple said in the filing.
Cook’s annual base salary and bonus will remain unchanged at $3 million and $6 million, respectively. But the “target” amount he’ll get in stock-based bonuses will drop from $75 million last year to $40 million next year.
The amount awarded in stock bonuses will also depend more on the performance of Apple’s stock price than it did last year. Now 75% of stock bonus depends on Apple’s stock market performance, up from 50% last year.
Shares of Apple have fallen 23% over the past 12 months to $133.41 at the close Thursday, spooking some shareholders.
The company said 64% of shareholders supported its payment plans at its annual meeting last year, but acknowledged that there was “a marked decline year-on-year, as our annual ‘say we say about pay’ proposals received significantly higher levels of shareholder support for several years.”
A shareholder advisory service, Institutional Shareholder Services, last year urged investors to vote against Cook’s salary package, saying there were “significant concerns” about the “design and scale” of the package. The ISS noted that Cook earned more than 1,447 times the average salary of an Apple employee.
Apple said it has reached out to investors to hear about their concerns. The company said: “Those shareholders we spoke to who did not support our 2022 ‘argument over pay’ proposal consistently cited the size and structure of the 2021 and 2022 stock awards awarded to Mr Cook as a primary reason for their decision to vote.
Balancing shareholder feedback, a desire to continue to create meaningful performance and retention incentives, Mr. Cook supported changes to his compensation to reflect feedback received, and the Compensation Committee maintained the monetary components of Mr. Cook’s 2023 compensation and reduced the value of the target stock award award.
Cook’s total pay of $99.4 million last year included $630,600 for personal security costs and $712,500 for private jet use. His 2022 wages were slightly higher than the $98.8 million collected in 2021 but that was more than 570% Of the $14.7 million he earned in 2020.
Cook, who has a personal net worth of more than $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, said he He plans to give away all of his wealth before he dies. In 2015, he told Fortune magazine that he plans to donate all of his wealth to charity after providing for the education of his 10-year-old nephew.
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