Apple CEO Tim Cook accepted a 40 percent pay cut that will bring his 2023 compensation down to $49 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission.
Cook, a billionaire who reportedly made 1,447 times more than the average Apple employee, recommended the pay adjustment based on feedback from shareholders, according to the company’s filing on Thursday.
“Taking into consideration Apple’s comparative size, scope, and performance, the Compensation Committee also intends to position Mr. Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentiles relative to our primary peer group for future years,” the filing states.
The compensation committee, which is chaired by Andrea Jung and also has Al Gore and Art Levinson as members, noted it continues to recognize Cook’s “outstanding leadership.”
The committee said it spent the past year working with Apple management to obtain more information on shareholders’ views on Cook’s pay.
“Based on these important conversations, we have made changes to the size and structure of Tim’s 2023 compensation,” the committee said.
Last year, Cook received a total compensation of $84 million, including $3 million as his base salary, $6 million as an annual cash incentive and $75 million in equity award value. He also received other benefits, including a $46,154 vacation cash-out and $591,196 for security expenses.
Under this year’s proposed targets, Cook’s base salary and bonus will stay the same, but his equity award value will drop to $40 million, 75% of which will now be based on how Apple’s stocks perform.
In 2022, just 64% of shareholders approved Cook’s compensation package. This is significantly lower than the vote for the 2020 fiscal year, when 95% of shareholders voted in favor of Cook’s pay, according to CNBC.
The Institutional Shareholder Services called on shareholders last year to not approve Cook’s pay, citing “significant concerns regarding the design and magnitude of the equity award” Cook received in 2021 and noting the dramatic difference between his pay and the average Apple employee’s.
Cook became CEO in 2011 shortly before the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The company has faced headwinds this past year, in part as a result of the global financial downturn and COVID lockdowns in China that shut down some of its manufacturing facilities.
Its stock market value fell below $2 billion this month for the first time since March 2021, according to Reuters. The company had become the first U.S. company to hit over a $3 trillion market cap in early 2022.
Cook’s net worth currently stands at $1.7 billion, according to Forbes.
He told Fortune Magazine in 2015 he plans to donate his personal wealth to charity after paying for his nephew’s college education.
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