Tim Cook, CEO of Apple — the most valuable technology company in the world — had a compensation package worth $98.7 million last year, more than six times his haul in 2020, according to a regulatory filing.
Cook’s base salary for 2021 was $3 million, unchanged from the two prior years. He received a cash bonus of $12 million for the year as well as stock options worth $82.35 million, according to Apple’s proxy statement filed Thursday. In addition, Cook received $1.39 million in other compensation, including $630,630 in security expenses and $712,488 for his personal use of private aircraft as per the company’s policy citing “security and efficiency reasons” for Cook to travel via private planes.
The Apple board’s compensation committee noted that Cook was granted an equity award for the first time since he was promoted to the CEO role in 2011.
“The structure of this award is better aligned with the performance-based and time-based RSUs [restricted stock units] awarded to our other named executive officers, while the amount recognizes his exceptional leadership and is commensurate with the size, performance, and profitability Apple has achieved during his tenure,” the committee said in the proxy statement.
For fiscal year 2021 (ended Sept. 25), Apple posted revenue of $365.8 billion, up 33% year over year, and net income of $94.7 billion, an increase of 65%. Its flagship iPhone smartphones hit sales of $192 billion in the most recent fiscal year, up 39% over the prior 12-month period.
Apple’s stock price has increased more than 1,100% since Cook’s CEO tenure began. Earlier this week the company’s market cap briefly hit $3 trillion — making Apple the first U.S. company to hit that high-water mark.
Cook, 61, first joined Apple in March 1998. He assumed the chief executive role in August 2011, shortly before the death of co-founder and previous CEO Steve Jobs. Prior to that, Cook was the tech giant’s COO since October 2005.
