Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,862
39,826


Apple is providing stock bonuses to some engineers in order to prevent them from moving on to companies like Meta, reports Bloomberg. Last week, select engineers in silicon design, hardware, software, and operations were informed that they would be receiving a $50,000 to $180,000 stock bonus, which Bloomberg says is "unusual and significant."

apple-park-drone-june-2018-2.jpg

Most engineers received stock worth $80,000 to $120,000, with the bonuses provided as restricted stock units that are set to vest over the course of four years provided the employees stay with Apple and do not take jobs at other companies.
The payouts aren't part of normal Apple compensation packages, which include a base salary, stock units and a cash bonus. Apple sometimes awards additional cash bonuses to employees, but the size of the latest stock grants were atypical and surprisingly timed, the people said. They were given to about 10% to 20% of engineers in applicable divisions.
Apple told managers that the bonuses could be provided to engineers as a reward for high performers, and it is likely meant to keep companies like Facebook parent company Meta from poaching employees. Meta has hired approximately 100 engineers from Apple in recent months, though Apple too has hired some Meta employees.

Meta is recruiting from Apple's augmented reality, AI, and engineering divisions. Meta is planning to launch a smart watch in the near future that will directly compete with the Apple Watch, and when Apple launches its planned AR/VR headset, it will compete with the Meta-owned Oculus virtual reality headsets.

Article Link: Some Apple Engineers Rewarded Up to $180K in Stock Bonuses as Incentive to Stay
 
Wow! That’s pretty good. Good for them. But I’m pretty sure it’s chump change for Apple. Apple is about to be a 3 Trillion dollar company. It’s too expensive nowadays.

How come we don’t hear about Microsoft Or Google engineers leaving the company?

Apple: You should also offer free housing for the engineers in the Bay Area, California.

Update: Check out the salary below. That's not even included bonuses. The year 2014. Making bank over here. $180K in 2021? 😂

1640740308735.jpeg


🤔🤥🙄
 
Last edited:
TBH these are small numbers. Look at levels.fyi to see what eng comp looks like. Typical stock comp is like 50k to 250k+ per year, depending on level, and that's on top of base of like 140-250+. I'm very surprised that 180k is enough to retain anyone. A new hire stock grant at someplace like Meta is easily 4x that. (Sr+ levels)
 
TBH these are small numbers. Look at levels.fyi to see what eng comp looks like. Typical stock comp is like 50k to 250k+ per year, depending on level, and that's on top of base of like 140-250+. I'm very surprised that 180k is enough to retain anyone. A new hire stock grant at someplace like Meta is easily 4x that. (Sr+ levels)
But meta is crowned as the worst company of the year.

 
Excellent news. Those who provide the greatest value to Apple will be bonus'd accordingly based on the market for their skills.

Not a new concept in SV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
To a lot of people, that is a lot of money. I'm surprised to see how insignificant it is to people here. For 180K, I'd take a couple of years off work and go on a sabbatical and travel the world.

I recognize these are RSUs but I mean to people talking about 180K being nothing or not much. We have household incomes in my state that are around 45-50K a year as the average. That's a family of 4 paying their bills and getting by at 50K. their cars are 10 years old and they're not saving much for retirement but if you told them they'd have to work somewhere for 4 years for 200K a year + 180K after 4 years, you'd be changing lives.
 
Last edited:
Paying the best employees to stay isn't surprising at all. Happens in all large companies. I've certainly received large stock bonuses in order to keep me around at a number of companies.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: TheLunaPark
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.