Apple CEO Tim Cook’s paycheck got a hefty addition thanks to the tech giant’s performance boost in 2017.
Cook’s compensation for the latest fiscal year rose to $12.8 million, up 47 percent from the $8.7 million he pocketed in the previous year, according to Apple‘s annual proxy filing with the SEC.
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The tech mogul’s pay included a $3.1 million base salary, along with $9.3 million in non-equity incentive pay and $440,374 in “other” payouts, the filing on Wednesday revealed. Cook’s earnings increase came largely from a boost in incentive pay; he earned $5.4 million last year.
“Apple was above its target performance goals for both net sales and operating income, resulting in a payout of each named executive officer’s annual cash incentive at 155.5% of target,” the company’s filing said.
For the company’s 2017 fiscal year, which ended September 30, Apple reported sales of $229.2 billion (up 6.3 percent from the year prior) and net income of $48.4 billion (up 5.8 percent).
Apple’s filing disclosed Cook’s pay, as well as the earnings of other top executive officers who made out even better than their boss.
Cook’s compensation was nearly half those of the $24.1 million packages for CFO Luca Maestri, SVP of hardware engineering Dan Riccio and general counsel Bruce Sewell. Apple’s SVP of retail Angela Ahrendts and SVP of hardware technologies Johny Srouji brought in about $24.2 million for the year.
Each of the top officers, not including Cook, receive a base salary of $1 million, cash incentives and were awarded $20 million in stock with the tech giant. Cook has not received an equity award since 2011, when he was named CEO after serving previously as COO.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and service, who was paid $22.8 million during the previous filing, was absent from the list of top earners this year.
While Apple’s revenue climbed in 2017 and is projected to continue in the green following the release of iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the company has been hit with a class action lawsuit after it admitted to slowing down iPhones as they age.
Two separate suits have been filed against the company for its interference of devices without consent and for deliberately keeping power management features secret to persuade customers to upgrade to newer models.
Apple’s stance on the the situation refutes part of the claims, claiming that the age of the phone doesn’t determine the speed, but rather the age of the battery in it.
“Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components,” the company said in a statement.
It added that the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7 include a feature to “smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions.” It plans to add this feature to other products in the future.
