Tim Cook gets a pay raise as iPhone profits grow
Apple gave its CEO a salary bump as sales and profit picked up this year.
Tim Cook received a total of $12.8 million, an increase of 46 percent from last year, when earnings fell, according to an SEC filing on Wednesday. Adding $89.2 million in equity award, Cook brought home a whopping $102 million in 2017, minus compensations.
Apple (AAPL) is having a good year. The electronics behemoth brought home almost 60 percent of the profits generated in the global smartphone segment in the last quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, although sales were mainly boosted by increased popularity of its older iPhone models. With that said, Apple does make $151 in profit for every phone sold -- nearly five times as much as Samsung, the next top performer. It could have made even more this quarter given it coincides with the launch of Apple's anniversary phone, coupled with increased sales this holiday season -- analysts said six million iPhone Xs were sold over Black Friday.
While better sales is good news for Apple, which saw sales decline for the first time last year, the company thought it also means Cook's security could be at risk. So the iPhone maker now wants Cook to fly private for "all business and personal travel," it said in the filing. Cook isn't the first Apple CEO to use a private jet for air travel. The late Steve Jobs was gifted a Gulfstream V airplane by the Cupertino-based company, which he co-founded, "in recognition of his service to the company" more than a decade ago.
Apple doled out rewards to other top executives besides Cook. Although each person received $1 million base salary compared to Cook's $3 million, they saw a boost that brings their total payout to around $24.2 million each.
"Our executive compensation program is designed to reward performance in a simple and effective way," said Apple in their shareholders and proxy statement. "It reflects the unparalleled size, scope, and success of Apple's business and the importance of our executive officers operating as a high-performing team, while focusing on key measures of profitability and the creation of shareholder value."
