Tim Cook’s pay up 40pc in 2020

Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing. Reuters

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that affected Apple’s retail operation globally, the company has exceeded its internal financial targets in the past fiscal year, and CEO Tim Cook’s cash bonus jumped 40 per cent to $10.7 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Cook’s 2020 pay, excluding vested shares, was $14.8 million, including the cash bonus and a $3 million salary that didn’t change from the prior year.

In its annual proxy filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Apple said it paid out 179 per cent of the targeted bonuses for named officers.

Cook’s bonus “had taken a 36per cent hit in 2019 when his pay package fell as revenue and profit declined tied to weaker iPhone sales”.

“Apple’s share price rose more than 80 per cent in 2020, placing its market value at more than $2 trillion,” the report mentioned on Tuesday.

In addition to his compensation, Cook had a total of $281.9 million in restricted stock that vested during the year.

The package included $470,246 in security costs and $432,564 for air travel.

Cook took home $125 million as his pay package in 2019, slightly lower (nearly 8 per cent) than $136 million which he received in total compensation in 2018.