Apple (AAPL) shareholders are being urged to vote against the $99 million U.S. pay package awarded to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook.
Half of Cook’s 2021 pay award is time-based and doesn’t depend on satisfying performance criteria such as increases in Apple’s share price, according to Rockville, Maryland-based Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which is urging shareholders to reject the pay.
Also, even if Cook, age 61, were to retire, the award would continue to vest, ISS said in urging shareholders to oppose the pay package at the company’s annual meeting on March 4.
The bulk of a corporate executive’s pay is often in the form of stock or options, and often comes with restrictions or performance criteria designed to give incentives to remain at the company.
Last year, Cook received stock awards valued at $82 million U.S., as well as a $12 million U.S. cash bonus, a $3 million U.S. salary and other compensation.
It was the first pay package that Cook received after collecting a $750 million U.S. moonshot award that Apple gave him after taking over from Steve Jobs 10 years ago.
Since 2011, Apple’s total shareholder return has exceeded 1,000%, raising the company’s market value to $2.8 trillion U.S.
Apple disclosed how much it paid Cook in a filing last month and will now put the compensation to a non-binding vote among shareholders. Cook’s 2021 package included new equity awards that could provide him with as many as one million shares by 2025.
Apple has already granted Cook a pay package for 2022. In September, he was given an award of restricted stock that could potentially amount to more than 750,000 shares.
Apple shareholders have been supportive of Cook and other executives’ pay in the past. At the 2021 annual meeting, 95% of votes cast backed its executive compensation program.
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