Apple slashes CEO Tim Cook’s pay by 40%

Apple Inc. is cutting CEO Tim Cook’s pay package by more than 40% to $49 million in 2023, following shareholder criticism, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Apple’s compensation committee decided to award Cook total “target compensation” of $49mn, down from a target of $84mn a year before, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.

Cook’s base salary was unchanged at $3mn, as well as a bonus of up to $6mn. But the targeted value of his equity award will fall from $75mn in 2022 to $40mn this year, according to Apple.

Apple said Cook’s pay package is within the “80th and 90th” percentile of CEOs relative to the company’s peers. In recent years Cook’s net worth has ballooned to $1.7bn, according to Forbes, thanks to his largely stock-based compensation as Apple shares had soared.

Apple said that some shareholders who did not support Apple’s 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 still had broad investor backing.

Apple shares declined 27% last year, although the fall was less than the overall drop in the Nasdaq Composite Index.  The company’s shares have gone up 2.7% so far this year.