Apple's Boss refuses to take his share of dividend
Apple has, finally, decided to give a dividend of $2.65 per
share to the shareholders, first time after approximately 17 years. The new CEO
of Apple, Mr. Tim Cook is considered as the world’s highest paid executive with
annual income exceeding $300 million. A
recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has
revealed that he will not take his share of dividends that comes from a million
shares.
The report filed this Thursday stated that “At Mr. Cook's request, none of his
restricted stock units will participate in dividend equivalents ……….. Mr. Cook
will forego approximately $75 million in dividend equivalent value”. The
report did not give any reason as to why Cook has taken this decision.
If Mr. Cook is earning $300mn, then $75mn will be equivalent to his three months’ salary, so it is a lot of money, even for the world’s richest CEO. Last year, he earned approximately $378mn that primarily came from the million shares that he received. His base salary is $900,000, exactly $899,999 more than his predecessor Steve Jobs’s.
If Mr. Cook is earning $300mn, then $75mn will be equivalent to his three months’ salary, so it is a lot of money, even for the world’s richest CEO. Last year, he earned approximately $378mn that primarily came from the million shares that he received. His base salary is $900,000, exactly $899,999 more than his predecessor Steve Jobs’s.
Mr. Cook had managed the company during Steve Jobs’s illness.
He was awarded 1 million in restricted stock units as part of his compensation
package, half of which are redeemable by 2016 while other half by 2021.
Currently, the company’s shares hover around $562 per share
making the business worth an impressive $525bn. Earlier this year, the share
prices had gone up to $644 per share making Apple the most valuable firm of the
world, although for a small period of time.
Apple under Tim Cook.
It was often rumored that if Steve Jobs leaves Apple, then
the company will not be able to survive or at least remain as competitive and
innovative. Under Mr. Cook, the business has surpassed all expectations.
Since Tim Cook became CEO, Apple has:
- Increased its market worth by about $140bn
- Earned about $31bn in profits
- Sold 89 million iPhones
- Sold 38 million iPads
- Got 97% approval rating from 280,000 Apple employees.
- According to Bill Shope, a research analyst at Goldman Sachs, “By any quantitative measure, so far his performance is phenomenal,”
