On the surface, Apple's CEO pay for last year was "just" $8.75 million, hurling Tim Cook towards the bottom third of all CEOs in the list of the S&P 500. This figure, however, only accounts for the direct salary and bonuses received plus some the amount of some of the inevitable executive privileges. The more interesting story, however, are the 1.26 million shares he got awarded as an incentive when he became Apple's CEO in 2011.
Those are granted with various performance strings attached to be vested fully, and in the case of Apple a fifth were tied to the three-year company shareholder return performance relative to the S&P 500 index. Given that in Apple's fiscal year that ended last September the shares had outrun the index by 78% for three years prior, Tim Cook's fifth can be fully vested at today's prices, along with the rest of his company stock that can be vested simply by running the company. This means that Apple's CEO actually could run home with $145 million just for the 2016 fiscal year alone, while so far he has amassed $320 million.
Not that he is going to spend them all at once, and even plans to give it all to charity, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett style, it's just that the "puny" $3 million basic salary can be pretty misleading, it turns out. Next in line for head honchos crossing the $100 million mark in pay for 2016 is Netflix's CEO Hastings with $106 million, mostly because Netflix has been a runaway success for its shareholders, too.
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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