Apple CEO Tim Cook to Take a 40% Pay Cut This Year

The iPhone giant said its board committee on executive compensation took into consideration shareholder feedback as well as a recommendation from Mr. Cook in making the adjustment.

The changes “are responsive to shareholder feedback, while continuing both to align pay with performance and to recognize Mr. Cook’s outstanding leadership,” the filing said.

Mr. Cook’s pay package has come under criticism before. Last year, proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that investors block Mr. Cook’s pay. Nevertheless, investors voted to approve the compensation.

Apple is one of the highest-valued public companies in the world and Mr. Cook’s compensation is still well above the average. The median compensation for CEOs of the largest U.S. companies was $14.7 million in 2021. 

There are, however, higher-paid tech leaders. Business technology provider

Oracle Corp.’s

Chairman

Larry Ellison

and Chief Executive

Safra Catz

were each paid more than $138 million in total compensation in the company’s fiscal year through May of last year. 

In the quarter through September, Apple’s business had proven itself resilient as broader economic challenges dragged down many of its technology peers.

Apple’s overall sales were up 8% compared with a year earlier at around $90 billion, a record for that quarter. The company’s total revenue, iPhone sales and net income all surpassed analyst estimates for the quarter.

For the same quarter that ended in September,

Amazon.com Inc.,

Microsoft Corp.

,

Alphabet Inc.’s

Google and

Facebook

-parent

Meta Platforms Inc.

said they were grappling with slowdowns in some consumer demand and weakness in digital advertising. 

Many of the top technology companies have been looking for ways to cut costs and have been reducing their staff, unwinding a part of their huge hiring sprees of recent years. 

Amazon last week announced layoffs affecting more than 18,000 employees, the highest reduction tally revealed in the past year at a technology company. 

Apple hasn’t announced similarly deep cuts.

Apple has been facing challenges in keeping its iPhone engine running at peak capacity lately. After the release of its lineup of iPhone 14 devices late last year, its high-end pro models were hit by production snags following turmoil in a major facility in Zhengzhou, China, also known as “iPhone City.” 

As a result of these challenges, Apple is looking to accelerate the manufacturing of more of its gadgets in Vietnam and India, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Wait times for consumers ordering iPhone 14 Pro models reached some of the company’s highest, hurting Apple’s holiday quarter. Apple is scheduled to report its first-quarter 2023 earnings on Feb. 2. Its earnings were likely hurt by the production slowdowns, analysts say. They expect some demand for iPhones to be pushed to the March quarter. The iPhone still accounts for around half of Apple’s overall revenue.

Analysts have been tempering their revenue estimates for Apple’s December quarter. In October, analysts on average were expecting $127 billion in quarterly sales. They are now expecting sales of $123 billion for the quarter, according to average estimates on

FactSet.

Apple shares are trading down about 24% over the past 12 months, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down around 27%.

Write to Aaron Tilley at [email protected]