Apple CEO Tim Cook Again Nears $100 Million Annual Pay In Fiscal 2022 But Reveals Plan To Slash Pay 40% This Year After Shareholder Pushback

Apple CEO Tim Cook topped $100 million in total compensation for the second straight year, earning $99.4 million in fiscal 2022, according to a proxy statement filed with the SEC.

The filing notes that the company plans to cut CEO pay by more than 40 percent from last year’s target in the wake of “feedback” received from unhappy investors. His target total compensation for fiscal 2023 is $49 million.

“Given Apple’s comparable size, scope and performance, the compensation committee intends to keep Mr. Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentile of our primary peer group for future years,” the filing said. Note. The big pay cut came after the committee “recommended to adjust his compensation in light of balanced shareholder feedback, Apple’s exceptional performance, and feedback received from Mr. Cook.”

As in 2021, when Cook made $98.7 million, the bulk of the 2022 executive’s compensation came in the form of stock awards, with a base salary of $3 million. In 2022, his stock award totaled $83 million.

Last year, news of Cook’s 2021 compensation prompted some shareholders, including an influential advisory firm, to vote against the package. Public companies are typically set up to allow shareholders to approve executive pay plans, although bylaws vary on how a “no” vote on pay affects actual payouts. In the end, 64% of shareholders voted in favor of Cook’s pay package, a far less final seal of approval than most top executives receive.

Last year was decidedly tougher than 2021 for the entire tech sector — perhaps the worst since the 2008 financial crisis. Apple fared slightly better than some of its fellow tech titans, but its shares still saw challenges from a sour economy, the Covid chaos in China and a host of other factors.

Other top executives under Cook earned roughly the same amount in fiscal 2022, the latest filings said. CFO Luca Maestri, general counsel Kate Adams, SVP Retail + People Deirdre O’Brien and COO Jeff Williams each took home about $27.2 million.

In addition to compensation figures, the proxy outlines a number of shareholder proposals that will be voted on at its annual shareholder meeting on March 10. Apple recommends voting against these five proposals. One of them requires the company to “report annually to shareholders the nature and extent to which corporate operations depend, and Communist China, a persistent human rights abuser, a geopolitical There is danger, and its opposite. The United States.” In urging the “no” vote, the company explained that it already provides extensive information about its operations in China, some of it to meet SEC requirements and some on a purely voluntary basis.