Apple CEO Tim Cook gets a big bump in pay, use of private aircraft

For Apple CEO Tim Cook, fiscal year 2017 brought good tidings in the form of a hefty 47 percent pay increase and use of a private aircraft.

Apple’s CEO since 2011 saw his salary rise to about $12.8 million in fiscal year 2017, which ended in September, from about $8.7 million in the prior fiscal year, according to a SEC filing from Apple on Wednesday.

Cook’s real wealth, however, comes from his stock options. He owns 560,000 shares awarded to him in 2011 that vested in fiscal 2017, valued at $89.2 million.

Apple’s CEO also has about 2.9 million more unvested shares, worth more than $450 million, according to the SEC filing.

In fiscal year 2016, Cook’s salary actually dipped $1.5 million from the prior fiscal year. That’s because Apple had fallen short of its financial goals, amid slumping iPhone sales and a downturn in the Cupertino-based company’s Chinese business operations.

But then in fiscal year 2017, Apple saw a major rebound across nearly all of its categories.

In its most recent quarterly earnings, Apple said iPhone sales rose 2 percent, its China business grew 12 percent, and its services sector — including Apple Pay, Music, App Store and iCloud — soared 34 percent higher than the same period a year earlier.

And with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X now on the market, Cook is hoping for Apple’s strongest fiscal year ever in 2018.

“I couldn’t be more excited about Apple’s future,” said Cook, during a call with analysts to discuss the company’s quarterly earnings in November. “As we approach our holiday season, we expect it to be our biggest quarter ever.”

Cook’s pay increase in the company’s 2017 fiscal year came mostly from cash bonuses, adding about $9.3 million to Cook’s roughly $3 million annual salary. Cook’s cash bonus was the largest among the six senior Apple executives.

But Cook’s overall compensation — not counting the value of his shares that vested this year — was the lowest among the six senior executives in fiscal year 2017.

The other five executives each earned more than $24 million.

Senior Retail Vice President Angela Ahrendts eked out the highest paid honor by less than $100,000 due to additional compensation to help Ahrendts — the former Burberry CEO — move “closer to Apple’s headquarters,” according to the SEC filing.

The Apple CEO also received use of a private aircraft, which Cook was required to use for all business and personal travel.

Cook’s personal travel cost came to $93,109 in fiscal 2017, according to the filing. He also incurred $224,216 in security expenses.

“As an additional security measure for Mr. Cook, the Board also requires that he use private aircraft for all business and personal travel,” Apple wrote in the filing. “This policy was implemented in 2017 in the interests of security and efficiency based on our global profile and the highly visible nature of Mr. Cook’s role as CEO.