Apple CEO Tim Cook Received a 22 Percent Pay Raise in 2018

Apple CEO Tim Cook received a significant pay bump in 2018 as iPhone sales hit a peak from which they have since begun a sharp decline.

According to a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (via the Wall Street Journal), Apple gave its CEO Tim Cook a hefty 22 percent pay raise its last fiscal year ended in September, bringing his total compensation for the year to almost $15.7 million USD.

The filing notes that Cook’s total pay included a base salary of $3 million USD, a $12 million bonus and $680,000 in “other compensation” that included private air travel and security expenses.

These numbers don’t include the massive stock incentives Cook receives as part of a 2011 grant. The chief executive cashed in $121 million USD of stock that vested earlier this year, and he still owns over 1.5 million Apple shares that haven’t yet vested, worth an additional $189 million at the current share price.

Apple’s compensation committee reportedly cited the company’s strong sales performance over the year in justifying the bonus.



“For 2018… we achieved net sales of US$265.6 billion and operating income of US$70.9 billion, each representing a year-over-year increase of 16 percent, and exceeding the 2018 maximum annual cash incentive program goals for both of those performance measures,” the filing read.

Tim Cook isn’t the only Apple executive that was well-paid last year. CFO Luca Maestri, general counsel Kate Adams, retail head Angela Ahrendts, and COO Jeff Williams all made over $26 million USD each, according to the SEC filing.

“We believe the compensation paid to our named executive officers for 2018 appropriately reflects and rewards their contribution to our performance,” Apple states in the filing.

The news comes a week after Apple cut its revenue forecast for the busy Christmas quarter by 7.8 percent. The tech giant is now anticipating revenue of $84 billion USD for the final three months of 2018, down five percent from the same period in 2017 and $9 billion lower than Apple’s original highest forecast for the quarter.

In other news, Apple has yet again slashed its iPhone production plans, this time for the first quarter of the year.