Apple CEO Tim Cook Earned $14.8 Million in 2020

Apple CEO Tim Cook earned a salary close to $15 million in 2020. Cook’s compensation for the year saw a rise of approximately 28 percent, the company lead gaining $14,769,259, as acknowledged in a proxy statement released by the company this week.

The disclosure of compensation was reported by Business Insider, which noted Cook’s pay increase came amidst the company having a profitable year. Despite the ongoing impacts COVID-19 had on Apple, which subsequentially affected retail stores, supply chains, and release schedules for its devices, including the iPhone 12, Apple had a successful year.

Cook’s compensation reflects Apple’s success. In 2019, Cook obtained a salary of $11,555,466. Last year, in 2020, Cook was given a base salary of $3 million. An additional $1 million was provided for travel and security expenses. $430,000 was provided for personal air travel expenses and $470,000 for security measures. Apple has a policy that requires Cook to travel via a private aircraft. On top of that, $10.7 million was given under a performance-based pay condition. Typically, Cook’s performance-based pay has a ceiling of $12 million, based on incentives and milestones the company can reach.

Apple also disclosed that its top five executives earned a grand total of $119.8 million. This includes Tim Cook, CFO Luca Maestri, general counsel Kate Adams, retail chief Deirdre O’Brien, and COO Jeff Williams. The five execs received a combined pay increase of 13 percent over what they earned in 2019. Taking Cook out of the equation, the four executives each earned roughly $26 million.

When compared to Apple’s median employee, Cook has earned 256 times as much. In 2020, typical Apple employees receive a salary of $57,783. In 2019, Apple paid Cook nearly 200 times the amount of the median employee. During 2020, Cook’s net worth broke $1 billion, taking into account the CEO’s earnings as well as stock value.