Smaller paycheck — Apple CEO Tim Cook to take 40% pay cut this year CEO requested pay cut after shareholder vote on executive compensation.
Patrick McGee, Financial Times – Jan 13, 2023 3:38 pm UTC Enlarge / Apple CEO Tim Cook.Drew Angerer/Getty Images reader comments 16 with 0 posters participating Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit
Apple is targeting a more than 40 percent cut to Tim Cooks pay package in 2023, it said, at the request of the chief executive following shareholder criticism.
Apples compensation committee decided to award Cook total target compensation of $49 million, down from a target of $84 million a year before, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Cooks base salary was unchanged at $3 million, as well as a bonus of up to $6 million. But the targeted value of his equity award will fall from $75 million in 2022 to $40 million this year, according to Apple.
The percentage of stock units granted to Cook in his 2023 pay package linked to Apples performance made up 75 percent of his overall equity award, up from 50 percent the year before, as some shareholders wanted Cooks incentives more closely aligned with future growth.
Apple said Cooks pay package is within the 80th and 90th percentile of CEOs relative to the companys peers.
In recent years Cooks net worth has ballooned to $1.7 billion, according to Forbes, thanks to his largely stock-based compensation as Apple shares had soared. His actual total pay in 2022 reached $99.4 million, and $98.8 million in 2021, a 500 percent increase from the $14.8 million he received the prior year. Advertisement
A majority of shareholders64 percentgave their approval in an advisory vote on Apples executive compensation packages at its annual meeting last year, but the company noted in the filing that it represented a notable year-over-year decline, as our annual say on pay proposals have received much higher levels of shareholder support for many years.
Apple said that some shareholders who did not support Apples executive pay packages consistently cited the size and structure of the 2021 and 2022 equity awards granted to Mr Cook as the primary reason for their voting decision.
But Apple said Cook, the former operations chief who succeeded the late Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011, still had broad investor backing.
It said: There was also overwhelming support for Mr Cooks exceptional leadership and the unprecedented value he has delivered for shareholders.
The company said in the filing the compensation committees decision balanced shareholder feedback, Apples exceptional performance and a recommendation from Mr Cook to adjust his compensation in light of the feedback received.
The filing notes Apple makes these decisions prior to the start of each fiscal year, which ended on September 24, 2022.
Apple has had a rocky few months following turmoil at factories in China, which resulted in it issuing a rare warning, on November 6, that iPhone production would face significant disruptions ahead of the holiday season. Its shares have fallen more than 20 percent in the past 12 months.
Analysts have downgraded revenue forecasts for the December quarterApples most lucrative periodwith the consensus now anticipating revenues will not match the $124 billion earned a year earlier. Such a miss would break a 14-quarter growth streak.
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