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It's CEO's like this in this country getting way overcompensated with millions and millions, that is crippling our ecomomy and country. There are so many more key people at Apple, that do a bang-up job daily, but will never be compensated a thousandth of what this guy is getting in one sha-bang.

I've always said, that whatever the CEO, COO, or CFO, or whomever is at the top of a corporation, if he gets a bonus of so many dollars, the lowest peon in the company should at least get a small % of what the CEO is awarded, as long as he/she is doing his/her job to the best of his/her ability as well. So if this top dog gets a $100 million bonus, the lowest peon on the totem pole at Apple should at least get a $500 bonus as well. Hell, maybe a $1000 bonus!

Overpaid CEO's and overpaid board of directors in this country are killing all of us!!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Why don't you go occupy their reserved parking spaces.
 
Nobody _deserves_ $100 million. But he earned it, legally, so more power to him. Hopefully he finds something humanitarian to do with the excess $90 million he doesn't actually need. But hey, SJ wasn't exactly a giving person either and everyone wants to be like him, right?
 
You all act like Steve interviewed every single American for the job and picked Cook. Steve just happened upon Cook like he could have countless other people. If Cook took a sick day on the day he was supposed to meet Steve, and Steve picked someone else to be his right hand man years ago, I bet Apple would still be as great as it is today.



He was hand picked by Steve. That I know as FACT.

Apple is great TODAY because of the actions of its board and the executive teams vision and implementation of that vision. These are facts.

"Hunches and bets" mean nothing and are just that.
 
Keep in mind this isn't cash they've paid him like a paycheck. This is being incented by giving him greater ownership in the company. He only does good if the stock does good (thus making the owners money)

The company has done SO good that it is a ridiculous amount of money. If the stock had gone back to it's $78/share levels around one of SJ's medical leaves, it would be worth a lot less money (and incidentally less than it's cash and cash equivalents)

Keep in mind this 'bonus' is dependent on the stock being high.
 
Fine ... now how about ...

This is fine ... Cook and others deserve compensation for doing a great job.

But Tim ... how about tapping some of that $80 billion in cash hord you have and give some back to shareholders who have supported the effort?

Disclaimer: I own some (a little) Apple stock.
 
well, you know when people say 'your smile looks like a million bucks'?
tim_cook_headshot-150x171.jpg

This is the smile of a man who had just got a hundred million bucks!!!!
 
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That is true. It is also true that we had teachers 40 years ago and CEOs of companies that made millions in profits as well. 40 years ago the CEO's compensation wasn't nearly as many multiples of the teachers compensation as it is now. Things have changed, lots of people don't think that this is for the better.

Either way if Cook (or any CEO of any company) was compensated 100 million or 100 thousand, it's not my money so I have no reason to complain. As for all the other Apple employees, if they were really that unhappy with Cook getting such a substantial compensation, then they can quit and work somewhere that pays more according to their ethics. I am sure a majority of them are satisfied with what they make there though.

I'm not going to say anyone deserves $100 million. But IMO no one deserves anything. They earn it. And if Apple can justify that Cook earned $100 million it's not mine or anyone else's problem. I just don't get what everyone expects Apple to do with the shares.
 
Americas biggest problem is everyone thinks it's me, me, me and only me. Not Tim Cook.

Christ, most of you hate the idea of having socialised health care.... it would be so bad to support your most vulnerable and poor now wouldn't it.
Bit off topic, but some of you guys need to see the bigger picture.
 
Ummmmm what?

I'm well aware of the corporate governance at issue here. First, shareholders don't "implicitly approve" the board decisions. Rather, generally speaking, shareholders delegate their power to control the day to day operations, except for those matters expressly reserved under the governance documents (i.e. articles of incorporation/bylaws/etc).

Clearly the management team has executed over the previous years, but this stock grant isn't supposed to reflect prior performance. It is for his service as CEO--and as a CEO, he hasn't done anything yet. Sure, he MAY end up earning this grant (as I believe he earned those grants that vest soon), but he is unproven at the helm as CEO. He should have reveived OPTIONS with a strike price at the current stock price. His compensation should be tied to performance of the stock, especially if no dividends are made.

There is a major problem in the corporate world. Board members are elected by the institutional shareholders (not the small unit owners) who all "swim in the same pool". It's an old boys/girls club and they all appoint each other to various boards, set enormous, ever-rising compensation levels and they win regardless of whether the company succeeds. Meanwhile the incomes of those they set for those working for them are all under downward pressure, benefits are reduced, jobs outsourced, etc. In 1978, the average CEO to average employee pay was 35 to 1. Now? 475 to 1. Sorry, I'm all for rewarding success and am pro-capitalist, but greed has taken over.


Demonstrating the business acumen of a grade schooler, or visual arts major you have completely missed the point. This "share" dilution is completely immaterial in nature compared to the effect Tim has and is expected to have on the valuation of the company.

People like you are hilarious to me. So you own .000000000001% of Apple and you think you should call all the shots?

How about you go to business school, network your a$$ off, and take over your own fortune 500 company. Then you can invite all the shareholders to McDonalds and spend you paycheck on buying them all Mclobster.
 
Tim Cook can talk the talk, but he is also walking the walk.

The real value of Tim Cook will be seen a few years from now. When Steve Jobs influence has been gone. It will be interesting to see where the company is at then.
 
This is fine ... Cook and others deserve compensation for doing a great job.

But Tim ... how about tapping some of that $80 billion in cash hord you have and give some back to shareholders who have supported the effort?

Disclaimer: I own some (a little) Apple stock.

You got the same 'bonus' cook got; share price growth. Market beating growth. I'll bet you just don't own 200,000 shares :p (Me neither!)
 
Keep in mind this isn't cash they've paid him like a paycheck. This is being incented by giving him greater ownership in the company. He only does good if the stock does good (thus making the owners money)

The company has done SO good that it is a ridiculous amount of money. If the stock had gone back to it's $78/share levels around one of SJ's medical leaves, it would be worth a lot less money (and incidentally less than it's cash and cash equivalents)

Keep in mind this 'bonus' is dependent on the stock being high.

I think we all understand how this is supposed to work, however, I've never fully agreed with the logic. Here is the logic applied to the current facts. First, we have vested $100 million worth of shares with Cook. He can sell them tomorrow and have $100 million in cash (less taxes). Now, he can basically buy anything he wants and will be able to do so for the rest of his life (if he has or ever has children, they and their children's children can also be well situated with this type of starting nest egg). Therefore, it follows, he will work very hard to make sure that he makes more money later by increasing the future value of Apple Shares. Do you see the logical leap that doesn't make sense?
 
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Albert Pujols contract was approved today. Lot's of complaining about that as well - but Pujols will have earned a similar amount as Tim Cook for their preceding 10 and next 10 years of work. I'm not sure why people are oblivious about watching a movie or a sporting event when stars there can be earning more every year than a guy running a company that adds so much value to this country.

I'm also not sure what the strike prices on the options will be - but Apple wasn't in the dumps in the mid 2000s, so he's making less than 100M. Considering the strike price of the 1M future options would be near 400, unless Apple goes gangbusters, he's going to make far less than 400M on those.

I watch movies and sports too, but I'm not delusional.

My guess is Cook will make something in the 300M ballpark (no pun intended) for his last 2 decades at Apple when the 1M options fully vest.
 
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Albert Pujols contract was approved today. Lot's of complaining about that as well - but Pujols will have earned a similar amount as Tim Cook for their preceding 10 and next 10 years of work.

I'm not sure why people are oblivious about watching a movie or a sporting event when stars there can be earning more every year than a guy running a company that adds so much value to this country.

I watch movies and sports too, but I'm not delusional.

sports stars are so overpaid, especially baseball players
 
Excessive pay

There use to be a time when there was not such a disconnect between the average employee salary of a company and their execs. These salaries are obscene on their face. Yes Apple is doing great and he probably has been a positive part of that. Yet the rank and file at Apple are not also sharing in the largess. The worse part of all of this though is that this income which will come in the form of a capital gain will only be taxed at 15% total no FICA, far less than what many hard working middle class pay as a percentage in taxes.
 
There use to be a time when there was not such a disconnect between the average employee salary of a company and their execs. These salaries are obscene on their face. Yes Apple is doing great and he probably has been a positive part of that. Yet the rank and file at Apple are not also sharing in the largess. The worse part of all of this though is that this income which will come in the form of a capital gain will only be taxed at 15% total no FICA, far less than what many hard working middle class pay as a percentage in taxes.

I think the real disconnect here is that people like you don't understand the difference between salary and stock grants and options. Salary is a guaranteed amount of money for a set period of time. Stock grants are worthless ledger entries unless the stock granted is worth something at the time it vests, typically years after the grant was made. If the execs screw up in the interim the value of the company's stock is going to plummet and so is the value of the grant. It very well could have been worthless if Cook had been unable to lead Apple the past year. (See old stock charts of Lucent, 3COM, or even Cisco).

Another disconnect is that people do not understand the difference between salary (pay for work) and investments (risk of one's capital which one has already paid various taxes on) which can end up as either capital LOSSES or capital gains. How do you propose to encourage investment if the tax rate negates any worthwhile gain?
 
I'm also not sure what the strike prices on the options will be - but Apple wasn't in the dumps in the mid 2000s, so he's making less than 100M. Considering the strike price of the 1M future options would be near 400, unless Apple goes gangbusters, he's going to make far less than 400M on those.

I watch movies and sports too, but I'm not delusional.

My guess is Cook will make something in the 300M ballpark (no pun intended) for his last 2 decades at Apple when the 1M options fully vest.

These weren't options with strike prices, this is a grant of 200,000 newly issued shares of apple that he got back in 2008. If you want to think of them as options, then think of them with a price of zero. This summer he was given one million shares. He will no doubt be given a grant of additional shares before those have all vested in 2021. He was also given many shares of stock prior to the grant of a million this summer. So your estimate of $300 million in compensation is way too low for many reasons.
 
March 24th is my birthday. I'm going to get a Starbucks gift card. Tim is going to get $86 million. I think he wins.
 
You show the Apple board of directors that you're Apple CEO material by A.) being CEO of another company (e.g., the other 499 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies), or B.) working your way up the ranks to end up being one of the top five executives in the company.

Not to be pedantic, but only about half the companies in the Fortune 500 would have CEOs with experience handling similar size companies. If you whittle the list down to "related companies," you are at about 50 CEOs, and maybe 250 top executives that could fill the shoes. World-wide, you might have a pool of 2,000 people that could be considered for the role. Of those, only about 5 might be able to run the company.

Top CEO pay is around $25-30MM... and not very well linked to performance. Cook will do very well if he can keep the stock from losing half its value over the next 10 years. Before he was interim CEO, nobody thought that someone could do that. Time will tell...
 
These weren't options with strike prices, this is a grant of 200,000 newly issued shares of apple that he got back in 2008. If you want to think of them as options, then think of them with a price of zero. This summer he was given one million shares. He will no doubt be given a grant of additional shares before those have all vested in 2021. He was also given many shares of stock prior to the grant of a million this summer. So your estimate of $300 million in compensation is way too low for many reasons.

You're right, I just read the 8K and it clearly says RSUs, not options.
 
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