Apple Board Modifies Tim Cook CEO Bonus Stock Award to Be More Performance Based

[MacDav]

Bullcrap, there has been far more than 8 percent improvements made since 2008 in cpu performance.

Apple is using the latest zeon's from Intel. Do you think they slowed them down for less performance? Seriously? Tell me which components in the new MacPro are slowing things down. Geekbench is not going to tell you how fast the New MacPro is. It's that simple. Are you a current MacPro user? Or do you just like to make noise for no real reason?

 

[linuxcooldude]

Yeah, like the 8% increase in its Geekbench score.

You sound like an analyst. Basing it on an unreliable source, from a product not yet released, ran on a beta software, from a benchmark that can't take in account any real world testing.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Hunting a higher stock price and working from qtr to qtr can really hurt companys. Doesn't have to but sometimes they are following a ridiculous metrics instead of what makes sense.

 

[Apple Corps]

How many wow did Steve Jobs produce in 30 years?

Apple II
Macintosh
iMac
iPod + iTunes
iPhone
Macbook Air
iPad

All other minor updates, in your opinion, don't have that WOW factor.

The longer Cook stays at the helm the lower the stock price goes. Primary job of the ceo is to increase shareholder value - Cook is failing at that. So if is not wow factor than he must figure how to do it. New markets (hello, China Mobile), dominate on price (yuk), whatever - but he needs to figure it out. He has had plenty of time......

 

[Mak47]

You clearly do not understand the plan - he gets rewarded under any circumstances. Even if the stock performance is in the lower third of comparator companies he gets $180,000,000 ( 400,000 shares @ $450/per). Why should he get ANY additional compensation for a lower 1/3 performance?

You clearly do not understand the plan.

He was originally promised all the stock. No matter what. Failure, success, or maintaining the status quo. He was assured all of it as long as he was there.

He is now putting 600,000 of those 1 million shares at risk and is taking no opportunity to increase the number of shares awarded.

Additionally, just because a stock underperforms doesn't mean that the company does. Apple recently reported the single most profitable quarter for any company in the history of the world--and their stock took a huge hit anyway. If the man leads a company that generates billions of dollars in profits for it's shareholders, he surely deserves to be compensated--regardless of what the stock price sits at.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I would prefer if it had a potential upside for him as well. As is, there's no incentive for him to lead Apple to be leaps and bounds past 2nd place - it'll be just the same as if Apple was in 133rd place for him (in the top 1/3rd of the top 500.)

 

[jmpnop]

please leave

Not everyone is Apple sheep

 

[fpsBeaTt]

Is more symbolic than anything else but it is clear that Apple is not the same company and that there is not actual innovation.

1. The Mac Pro... it is just hardware but the shape is not wow at all.
2. iOS7 new interface looks weak
3. The rest of the peripherals are just thinner.

So... yeap, a consumer company but not innovative and the CEO has to keep it that way.

You have a singular perspective; I have a feeling you don't know the meaning of the word 'innovate'.

 

[macs4nw]

Apple is a publicly owned corporation. It may publicly state that all it wants is to make good products, but in reality, the goal of any publicly owned corporation is to increase its value over time. Apple is no exception.....

Correct. It's their fiduciary duty to the shareholders.

.....All that said, requesting that you get penalized for your earnings/stock performance taking a hit but get no bonus for exceptional performance is rather impressive from a CEO, when nearly all of these guys seem to have some sort of internal manhood-measuring contest tied to how much they get paid. He's still getting positively fabulous amounts of money--more than any reasonable human being could ever dream of spending--but being the head of one of the most profitable corporations to ever exist gives you quite a bit of leverage that Cook apparently has the relative humility to not take full advantage of.....

Because he already signed a contract that guaranteed him 1,000,000 RSUs so long as he kept the job. He voluntarily changed the terms so that if the shareholders suffer, he can lose as many as 600,000 of those RSUs. He could easily--most would say "reasonably"--have asked for a tradeoff in the other direction. "I'm voluntarily putting 600,000 shares of contractually-guaranteed stock at risk if performance is bad, so how about I get something extra if performance is exceptionally good?" The board even said that for other executives, that would be the norm. But he voluntarily said "no, I don't need the bonus if things go really well--just penalize me if they go badly." I would call that legitimately classy.

Steve Jobs famously made $1 a year and therefore relied on increasing stock price to make money. Tim's doing a similar move, essentially saying 'hey, if we're not doing well compared to others in the market, then don't give me as much stock as you already awarded me'. In a country where CEOs get golden parachutes and bonuses that don't match performance, this is signal from Cook that he believes in the future of Apple and is willing to bet his stock on it.

You may have missed that there is no upside in this for Tim Cook. Even if AAPL shoots through the roof, he won't get more money than with the current contract, he can only get less.....

Refreshing to see a guy voluntarily give up more money, if the company does well, while at the same time willing to take the financial hit, if the company does less well. How often do you see that these days. What I mostly see is rampant greed.

Well done Tim! We would have expected nothing less from you.

 

[fpsBeaTt]

please leave

Bump. We need down-vote returned.

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A brand new 2013 machine should outperform a machine released in 2010 by more than 8%. Its embarrassing especially considering this thing as marketed as a professional machine. There also were far too many tradeoffs made for the form factor that will force it to not only perform worse, but inflate the cost of the machine as well. For the target audience these tradeoffs are not worth it. The mac pro should have been reinvented as a traditional mid size tower instead of this can shaped thing.

It's a synthetic pre-release benchmark, not the be-all and end-all at release. You also have to take into account the words of devs and media pros who used it before WWDC, who were notably impressed by how much better it performed than the previous Mac Pro.

 

[sexiewasd]

http://youtu.be/HX6ndnb80h0

It seams like a good theme song.

I think that any "Wow" in the near future is going to be coming from app developers, not from Apple themselves. This time around more than any Apple has provided devs with some really great tools, and I think that the new UI and UX of iOS is going to inspire some really great apps that should get people excited again.

 

[the8thark]

Is more symbolic than anything else but it is clear that Apple is not the same company and that there is not actual innovation.

1. The Mac Pro... it is just hardware but the shape is not wow at all.
2. iOS7 new interface looks weak
3. The rest of the peripherals are just thinner.

So... yeap, a consumer company but not innovative and the CEO has to keep it that way.

And we're all glad you don't work at Apple. You can't see real innovation. Watch the WWDC platforms state of the union keynote. Then come back and tell me there's no innovation.
"Can't innovate my ass". He was 100% right in saying that (at the main keynote).

 

[FrozenDarkness]

A brand new 2013 machine should outperform a machine released in 2010 by more than 8%. Its embarrassing especially considering this thing as marketed as a professional machine. There also were far too many tradeoffs made for the form factor that will force it to not only perform worse, but inflate the cost of the machine as well. For the target audience these tradeoffs are not worth it. The mac pro should have been reinvented as a traditional mid size tower instead of this can shaped thing.

except...

the machine hasn't been released yet

AND

the people at Pixar used it and thought it was fast as hell so i'm thinking you know nothing.

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Maybe you should respect othe people's opinions; just because they don't agree with your narrow mindness doesn't mean they're wrong. As it happens, I agree with them, not you!

I don't respect other's opinions when they're not opinions and instead just attacks. not constructive, but just saying it to be insulting. much like you, i have zero respect for you so i don't care much about your "opinion" either.

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The opinions on the iOS7 interface being weak is a very wide spread shared opinion, especially in design circles. It is boring and has no life. The iOS 7 interface is not innovative at all, its just another "me too" interface.

I have already had 2 friends who were huge Apple fans dump their iPhone in the last week. They basically said that if iOS is just going to look like another Android device with more restrictions, might as well switch to Android.

Personally I think it is a train wreak and will burry iOS if released in its current form. Apple has some very major work to do, and I suspect they will listen to the feedback. The features of iOS 7 are great, but they took flat interface to the way extreme.

i work for an app developpment company and my entire company is excited for iOS 7, go figure

 

[Xeyad]

I agree that stock awards should be more performance based. This is a win for all of us, as shareholders and as consumers.

But what I don't get is this hate towards Tim Cook. Yes, he is no Steve Jobs as a visionary, which is to be expected, since a man like Steve only comes once in a life time. But Cook has been excelling at giving consumers exactly what they want. People like the iPad, but the market has clearly shown the demand for a smaller tablet, so Apple brings on an iPad Mini which has dominated the tablet market. People love iOS, but everyone (including so many of you here on the forums) have asked for a new redesign, and here it is with iOS 7. It's not perfect, but it's not a public release yet, and Apple listening to developers to perfect it. People are asking for a more affordable 'new' iPhone, and it will be coming very soon. Then there is the Apple Television and the iWatch thing. And when Apple messed up with maps, Cook himself wrote an apology and they offered other map alternatives including Google's.

What else do you guys exactly want from him?

 

[FrozenDarkness]

I agree that stock awards should be more performance based. This is a win for all of us, as shareholders and as consumers.

But what I don't get is this hate towards Tim Cook. Yes, he is no Steve Jobs as a visionary, which is to be expected, since a man like Steve only comes once in a life time. But Cook has been excelling at giving consumers exactly what they want. People like the iPad, but the market has clearly shown the demand for a smaller tablet, so Apple brings on an iPad Mini which has dominated the tablet market. People love iOS, but everyone (including so many of you here on the forums) have asked for a new redesign, and here it is with iOS 7. It's not perfect, but it's not a public release yet, and Apple listening to developers to perfect it. People are asking for a more affordable 'new' iPhone, and it will be coming very soon. Then there is the Apple Television and the iWatch thing. And when Apple messed up with maps, Cook himself wrote an apology and they offered other map alternatives including Google's.

What else do you guys exactly want from him?

ia gree with everything you said. they don't know, if you don't like apple just stop buying their products. but don't act like they're screwing up left and right and disappointed you.

it's a lot like michael jordan to me, everybody loves jordan, but nobody actually remembers jordan for all the bad games he's had or all the choke jobs he's had as a younger athlete. they just remember how good he was. nobody remembers steve jobs for antennae gate. for the mac cube. for ping. for mobile me. original itunes phone. and worst, his failures like antennagate, he doens't apologize. remember when he lowered the price of the original iphone? he had to respond to people being pissed off to give out the credit. steve jobs' wasn't infallible, let's not act like tim cook should be perfect.

 

[mrmac007]

Good to see Tim looking after him-self and how about those lowly paid shop workers, no bonus no end of year profit share no career prospects to management hope he feels good.

 

[patent10021]

This is suspicious to me as tim cook also recently announced the stock buyback. it's obvioulsy good to have it be incentive based if he believes stock price will be going up and apple certainly will make sure of this.

So what are you saying is suspicious? What do you think is happening?

 

[needfx]

unless I am misunderstanding something, the trick was to get RSUs paid annually throughout the decade instead of receiving two lump sums

 

[donutbagel]

1. The Mac Pro... it is just hardware but the shape is not wow at all.

I don't know about you, but I've never seen something with this kind of "central thermal core" design. If it works well, I'll be really impressed.

----------

So what are you saying is suspicious? What do you think is happening?

Insider trading.

 

[bgillander]

Absurd position - you are oblivious to the FACTS - one of the largest losses of shareholder value in business history. Blaming the market does not work. Cook is responsible and the results are a train wreck. He is way over compensated and under performing from a shareholder (owner's) perspective.

I just looked at Apple's historical stock prices and it looks to me like the stock price is above the position it was at when Cook took over. Wouldn't that mean that he is actually responsible for an increase in shareholder value?

Or do you just selectively choose the period you prefer to talk about? If so, then one could just as easily choose the period at the beginning of last year and say he is responsible for one of the largest gains of shareholder value in business history.

At the rate Apple stock rose at that time, don't be angry at Cook that it didn't stay above $700, be angry at yourself that you didn't recognize a bubble.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

So what are you saying is suspicious? What do you think is happening?

Cook knows apple's plans. Cook has money to purchase stock buybacks with. I mean at least he probably has a pretty good idea where his stock will be in the next year.

 

[tdream]

The original Macintosh should have had more than 128K of RAM.

The first iPhone also should have had at least as many features as Windows Mobile did back in 2007.

The first iPad should have let you run more than one app at a time, which almost any computer made within the last 25 years can do.

Raw performance and feature checklists aren't everything.

Is this the first Mac Pro? Was the 2007 iPhone the first? Was the 2010 iPad the first?

 

[mrhick01]

This comment is all wrong. You clearly do not understand the definition of the term "innovation" or you are just trying to spread misinformation rhetoric.


[...]

3) I'm not sure what peripherals are "just thinner". The MBA was the same dimensions, the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule are actually much taller to support an ... wait for it.... innovative new antenna layout to support beam-forming. The MacPro is certainly thinner, but its an entirely different shape.

Not to mention the work that Apple has done to achieve huge battery life improvements by collaborating with Intel and improving their apps and OS X. And the work they have done to support more multi-tasking in iOS 7 without destroying your battery life by piggy-backing onto existing wake states for apps. This is far more innovative than Android's willy-nilly let an app do whatever it wants in the background as if it was running on desktop Linux.

"Just thinner" is a considerable feat of engineering and planning - the original poster (critic) made it sound like anyone can do it or has done it AND maintained good battery life (as Apple has).

Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs, and it seems as if his critics are blasting him for that reason. I find that very misguided. Cook is a masterful operational manager, and he has a great team around him. I believe he has found his "sea legs" as a CEO.

Apple isn't a "growth" stock anymore? Boo hoo. The stock buyback (which had to happen to calm down the nattering nabob financial greed/pundit class) and the increased dividend bring value to AAPL (NOT "APPL.")

 

[FrozenDarkness]

a reminder that most of the criticism are coming from people who

1. never used the new mac pro
2. saw the beta version of an OS
3. claims their "friends" are now switching to android

 

[RamGuy]

As long as Apple keeps doing what Apple does best, I'm more than happy to call myself a Apple user.

I have no clue where all this "innovation, after innovation each and every year is required" comes from. It's not like Apple gave us a glimpse of the future every single year in the past, they came up with some game-changer products every now and then making their competitors yaws drop in wonder and their stock prices sky rocketing but everyone seems to forget that there has normally been several years in between all these releases where Apple just continues on improving on their existing products making their already solid products and software even more solid.


As long as Apple keeps offering me the best integrated, easy to use with one of the more aesthetic pleasing users interfaces of all, and continues focusing on keeping good design (I'm not taking about "pretty" products, I'm taking about focusing on practical, well-thought-out design) over the need of having the "über awesome latest generation specifications" and all kind of gimmicky and nonsensical features I'm all for it.


For me what Apple does best has not necessarily been all about innovation, it has been about creating great products that makes the life of the user easier and more seamlessly integrated. This is what makes Apple products so great to use in my opinion, if you had asked me a few years back what my thoughts on Apple products would be I would probably have told you their products seems overpriced compared to their raw specifications but after I got sick and tired of my defective Lenovo ThinkPad machines a few years back and got my first MacBook Pro and ever since then I have never looked back and now I own more Apple products than ever before and I haven't had such a integrated and easy to use and aesthetical pleasing line up of products my whole life.