Apple CEO Tim Cook Sells Over $50 Million Worth of Stock

[amartinez1660]

That's right. All those "taxation is theft" people are idiots.

If you don't want to pay taxes, then don't use the services that those taxes pay for. Don't expect the government to defend any property you "own" from theft or confiscation. Don't expect courts to enforce any contract you sign or patent/copyright you own. And don't be using US currency for anything; You didn't help make those paper slips and bits on a computer valuable.

While all that you commented is totally true and I agree, the opposite is also useful to pay attention to and usually where the anti tax mindset comes from…

For example, if I give a dollar to a homeless man, that man gets that full dollar.
If we do it through a government program instead, that man in needs might get barely .10 cents, the government machinery burns the rest in red tape and bureaucracy. Add to that that they are completely unmotivated to fix the problem (or any other problem for that matter) as fixing the problem would turn off that “.90cents per homeless aid dollar” hose.
Same for drug programs, housing programs, health programs, etc.

Not saying it’s on purpose or “evil” by the default, but it’s definitely wasteful.

On the topic “protection for the house you own”: we own nothing, skip those property taxes and we will know instantly who really owns what.

Also, on the same protection topic, here in Canada with the sudden theft and crime increases, the suggestion by the police is to leave the car keys at the door’s entrance (easy to find, it’s on live TV)… I get the “let’s avoid a fight and potential loss of life”, but there goes the protection you are paying for with taxes; just leave the keys for the thieves to take it.

See, the government puts a lot of effort into punishing the everyday citizen that skips a property tax payment… but gets absolutely lenient on violent home and cars theft.

You call the people that think that way idiots, ok fine, you go and do the totally non idiotic move and leave your all your keys are your door’s entrance, fine by me.
But all I’m saying is that there’s a reason behind it, it’s not like people wake up one day realizing “oh man, taxes are the best thing!” or “taxes are theft!”

My .0002cents (all I could afford after income taxes, inflation and sales taxes on top of every after tax surviving dollar).

 

[v0lume4]

They only pay that for things that the government correctly recognizes as being income. That is another reason for those $1 salaries, and Trump paying basically nothing in taxes most years.

And yet they still are paying 45% of the federal income tax. That doesn't change the numbers.

I have family members that own a business, and they use every tax loophole they can. And they still get absolutely ripped on taxes. And they have no company paying half their insurance, so they're stuck with $10,000+ in insurance premiums every year. This is a small business. It's hard out there for business owners. Now, Tim is not a business owner. But he pays an insane amount in taxes is what I'm getting at. More than you or I ever will in our entire lifetimes, times ten. People get stuck on the loophole thing without realizing these people are still paying an insane amount in taxes.

And in spite of all of this money, our government still operates at a deficit. Every. Single. Year.

 

[amartinez1660]

If he's selling all those shares, I assume he needs $50 million for something... but I imagine he'd probably be wealthier long term if he just kept his Apple shares.

Kind of like the story about how Steve Ballmer is richer than Bill Gates because Ballmer just hung on to his Microsoft shares, while Gates sold a bunch of his shares so he could "diversify." 💸

I often wonder what people do with this kind of money. Not in a judgmental manner, but curiosity. After the tenth home, 30th car, fifth yacht… what do you do next? You can contribute to your friends and family but may eventually incur gift tax. Tim doesn’t have kids either.

Maybe a downpayment for a bunker, I hear it’s all the rage lately… or maybe even just the lock-in deposit, the prices of these things can go to who knows what 😂

Why are you yelling? You lose all credibility by typing in all caps and come across as a conspiracy believer than someone delivering facts.

I actually interpreted as sarcasm and a funny take at the usual “wait for the crash bro, houses will go down” or the constant “buy-the-dip-bros”.

By now we know inflation is here to stay, prices while they might falter for a very short amount of time, they look like forever on a upwards rocket (if at least just because of constant value loss)

 

[amartinez1660]

Here’s a good resource to better understand stock options and how they are taxed

How Stock Options Are Taxed: ISO vs NSO Tax Treatments

How are stock options taxed when exercising? Learn how ISO and NSO stock options are taxed and the common times employees can exercise their options.

carta.com

Thanks for that, this news post has been accompanied with quite some good questions and great knowledge sharing.

Giving it a read.

 

[erihp]

ok so he is gonna throw a big party?
$50m pretax is chump change LOL

 

[Algr]

You call the people that think that way idiots, ok fine, you go and do the totally non idiotic move and leave your all your keys are your door’s entrance, fine by me.
But all I’m saying is that there’s a reason behind it, it’s not like people wake up one day realizing “oh man, taxes are the best thing!” or “taxes are theft!”

That is false duality. If a plumber does his job poorly, saying there should be no plumbers, or cutting wages for all plumbers will not improve things.

The key to better government is more public effort to attract smart and honest people to government positions. Blind cynicism does the opposite, and is in many ways even worse than blind obedience.

 

[Lannoc]

Why do many tech CEOs (Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg) have $1 salaries? Most famous one being Steve Jobs.

I’m no expert, but I suspect the company would rather pay compensation in stock rather than use cash. I’m sure there are other reasons 🤷‍♂️

 

[Rychiar]

Tim wonders why you find guest mode on Apple Vision Pro not enough. Your whole family should simply buy one

 

[davide_eu]

In 2023, Cook's base salary was $3 million, but he also received $47 million in stock awards, $10.7 million in performance-based bonus awards, and $2.5 million in other compensation, such as 401(k) contributions, term life insurance premiums, vacation cash-out, security expenses, and personal air travel expenses.

It's a shame that in the same companies there are employees struggling to get a salary increased to cover the inflation and at the same time almost everything is paid to a single people. If I were him I would feel guilty that with millions of dollars received, I would ask money even for my personal flights.

 

[davide_eu]

I’m no expert, but I suspect the company would rather pay compensation in stock rather than use cash. I’m sure there are other reasons 🤷‍♂️

Usually because on salaries you pay taxes, on stocks only when you sell. So you are postponing your taxes.

 

[AZFalconi]

It's a shame that in the same companies there are employees struggling to get a salary increased to cover the inflation and at the same time almost everything is paid to a single people. If I were him I would feel guilty that with millions of dollars received, I would ask money even for my personal flights.

The same employees don’t have his responsibilities and never will

You wouldn’t feel guilty

 

[davide_eu]

The same employees don’t have his responsibilities and never will

You wouldn’t feel guilty

Which responsibility? To stay with consultants in a room to decide about what? The color of the next phones?

 

[Velli]

If he's selling all those shares, I assume he needs $50 million for something... but I imagine he'd probably be wealthier long term if he just kept his Apple shares.

He is 63. How much money does he have to bring in his coffin?

Kind of like the story about how Steve Ballmer is richer than Bill Gates because Ballmer just hung on to his Microsoft shares, while Gates sold a bunch of his shares so he could "diversify." 💸

Diversify into eradicating Polio, yes. How lame.

 

[Velli]

I often wonder what people do with this kind of money. Not in a judgmental manner, but curiosity. After the tenth home, 30th car, fifth yacht… what do you do next? You can contribute to your friends and family but may eventually incur gift tax. Tim doesn’t have kids either.

Millions of people in the world are wondering what you are doing with your 15.000 USD per year, when they can’t afford shoes. It’s all relative.

 

[svish]

Interesting. Good to know about this!

 

[Velli]

The numbers here are bonkers. But does he ever really get to truly enjoy all that wealth? Is he not, as the CEO of one of the biggest tech companies in the world, not just always working at all times!? I mean, if he's got it going spare, I could use a few mil.

If you truly believe the way to earning a few mil is to be “working at all times”, are you doing that then? Or are you just sitting on your couch writing meaningless posts on internet forums, wondering why everyone else has all the money?

No good CEO works “all the time”. Every successful person I have met has one trait in common: Knowing the value of time, including their downtime. They will spend a lot of money making sure their downtime is actually refuelling them.

This does have a “more wants more” issue though. Most learn way too late that the secret is to be happy where you are.

 

[Velli]

Why do many tech CEOs (Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg) have $1 salaries? Most famous one being Steve Jobs.

Because your salary is supposed to motivate you, and at this level it doesn’t motivate them to have a $1 million salary. Growth motivates them, and stock options reflect growth. The $1 salary is a signal to others that their motivation is growing the company.

Why not zero? Because then they are not legally an employee, I guess.

 

[Velli]

Could you dumb that down for me? I don’t understand.

I can smart it up for you instead: Generally speaking, the reason for lower capital gain tax than income tax, is to encourage money being invested rather than stockpiled. Corporations need risk-averse capital to grow and create jobs. This capital generally comes from people putting their cash on the line in the hope that it will grow into more cash, and the lower the capital gain tax is, the more risk averse people with capital are. Without lower capital gain taxes, less people would be earning normal salaries.

Also, people tend to think think that stock taxation rules only is benefitting rich people. If you have money in any sort of pension fund, you are directly benefitting from this, on top of you (hopefully) benefitting indirectly by having a job.

 

[Velli]

Yeah . . . who needs roads, bridges, schools, clean water, sewage, fire and police services, etc.

(I understand your comment maybe be tongue in cheek, but I used to live next to a woman who owned a market/public policy research company. Periodically it would ask people what were their top 3-5 priorities for government spending. Guess what? Over 90% of the responses were exactly the top 5 things government spending went towards.)

Exactly. I live in a smaller country, but whenever I hear people complain about government spending, I ask them if they know what the government budget is. When they can’t answer (99% of the time), I give them three options, an order of magnitude part. Most still have no clue.

Yes, I’m boring at parties.

 

[davide_eu]

Last time I made an innocuous comment about the disgusting wealth of the executive class, I got suspended.

Shameful, really.

If you are not aligned on the mainstream, if you are not a defender of a$$le it is very easy to get banned here.

 

[Velli]

And yet they still are paying 45% of the federal income tax. That doesn't change the numbers.

I have family members that own a business, and they use every tax loophole they can. And they still get absolutely ripped on taxes. And they have no company paying half their insurance, so they're stuck with $10,000+ in insurance premiums every year. This is a small business. It's hard out there for business owners. Now, Tim is not a business owner. But he pays an insane amount in taxes is what I'm getting at. More than you or I ever will in our entire lifetimes, times ten. People get stuck on the loophole thing without realizing these people are still paying an insane amount in taxes.

And in spite of all of this money, our government still operates at a deficit. Every. Single. Year.

I live in a different country, but every time I look into US taxes, I am amazed how much tax corporates actually pay in the “land of opportunities”, compared to my own which at least half of Americans would consider a communist country.

 

[Velli]

If you are not aligned on the mainstream, if you are not a defender of a$$le it is very easy to get banned here.

I’m guessing he got suspended over the wording of what he said, rather than context. That has been true of my own suspendings at least 😁

 

[GraXXoR]

Whenever I read something like this, I always think "when is enough money...enough?".

Also, good work posting the cigarette butts Apple wallpaper again MacRumors👍🏻.

It's never enough for these people, that's the point. People like Geoff Bozo, Tim Apple and Leon Musk are human versions of cancer; they will consume everything they are given until they or their host dies. In Musk's case it was an even more egregious 50 Billion dollars worth of shares.

 

[v0lume4]

I live in a different country, but every time I look into US taxes, I am amazed how much tax corporates actually pay in the “land of opportunities”, compared to my own which at least half of Americans would consider a communist country.

Would you care to elaborate on your country's tax rates? I'm not familiar with other countries' tax rates outside of my own (the USA). 🙂

 

[v0lume4]

It's never enough for these people, that's the point. People like Geoff Bozo, Tim Apple and Leon Musk are human versions of cancer; they will consume everything they are given until they or their host dies. In Musk's case it was an even more egregious 50 Billion dollars worth of shares.

They're "cancers" you say, but every one of those people built things (a notable exception being Tim Cook, he stepped into the role after Steve passed away). The money didn't fall into their laps. And, in return, they hire and provide livelihoods for untold thousands of their workers every day.

Bezos puts food on the table for 1,500,000 (1.5 million) people. Tim Apple puts food on the table for 161,000 people. Elon puts food on the table for over 150,000+ people (140,000+13,000+1,500, and that's only counting three of the many companies he's involved in).

So, "leeches"? I don't think so. Not when you actually look at the whole picture.