The CEO to average employee pay ratio, which all companies are required to disclose, was 256 to 1.
Apple chief Tim Cook’s pay increased by around 28% last year to $14,769,259, the iPhone maker disclosed in its annual proxy statement on Tuesday. That’s a rosy figure from the $11,555,466 he saw in 2019.
Apple’s top five executives – Cook, general counsel Kate Adams, CFO Luca Maestri, retail chief Deirdre O’Brien, and COO Jeff Williams, were paid a total $119.8 million, an average jump of around 13% from 2019.
Despite the COVID-19 headwinds, the work-from-home trend has boosted Mac and iPad sales. In the past fiscal year, Apple’s profit rose 3.9% with laptops and iPad sales benefits from virtual workers and students stuck at home as part of the lockdown orders to slow the spread of coronavirus. Apple’s share price rose more than 80% in 2020, placing its market capitalization at more than $2 trillion.
In addition to Tim Cook’s compensation, he was awarded a total of $281.9 million in restricted stock that vested during the year. Those shares were a part of Cook’s long-term incentive package that was awarded in 2011 when he became chief executive.
2021 will mark Tim Cook’s 10th anniversary as Apple chief executive. (Image Credit: Apple Newsroom)
In September, Apple announced it was giving Tim Cook new equity awards that could provide him with as many as 1 million company shares by 2025.
Cook, 60, joined Apple in 1998. 2021 will mark Tim Cook’s 10th anniversary as Apple chief executive.
Apple also named Monica Lozano, chief executive officer of College Futures Foundation, to its board. Lozano also serves on the boards of Target Corp. and Bank of America Corp.
According to the company’s proxy filing, Cook’s pay in 2020, excluding vested shares, totaled $14.8 million, including the cash bonus and a $3 million salary that didn’t change from the prior year. The pay package included $470,246 in security costs and $432,564 for air travel. Apple requires Cook to use private planes for all business and personal travel.
As per the company rules, Cook is required to fly in private jets for all business and personal travel. “Any time Cook uses an Apple private jet for personal travel, the costs are considered extra compensation, on which he will have to pay taxes,” according to a shareholder proxy statement from Apple.
Apple’s CEO to average employee pay ratio, which all companies are required to disclose, was 256 to 1 with an average employee pay of $57,783.
Subscribe to the nation’s fastest-growing CEO magazine to get the latest business news delivered to your inbox.