On February 25, local time, Apple held a shareholders’ meeting, which reviewed a number of proposals such as executive compensation and board of directors reelection. As the CEO of the world's most valuable company, Tim Cook's salary has always attracted much attention. According to information disclosed by Apple, Cook's salary, stock awards and bonuses totaled US$74.61 million in 2024, an increase of 16% from the US$64.21 million salary in 2023.
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Cook's compensation consists of a base salary of $3 million, $58.1 million in equity awards and approximately $13.5 million in additional compensation. Part of Cook's salary increase in 2024 will mainly come from the increase in the value of stock awards. Apple's board of directors stated that there will be no changes to Cook's total target compensation amount or structure in 2025.
Apple emphasized in its shareholder documents that the company's market value increased by more than $3 trillion during Cook's tenure, which became the core basis for its salary increase. In the past year, Apple's stock price has risen nearly 35%, and its current market value exceeds US$3.7 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the US stock market.
The compensation of other Apple executives, including the head of retail, the former chief financial officer, chief operating officer and general counsel, will also exceed $27 million in 2024, a slight increase from the previous year.
It is worth noting that some foreign media previously predicted that Cook may take over as chairman in 2026 because two of Apple's directors, Art Levinson and Ronald Sugar, have reached or exceeded the recommended retirement age of 75 respectively. Levinson will turn 75 in March 2025, and Sugar is 76. Although Sugar received a board-approved extension to retire in March 2024 due to his "deep insights" into the company, this extension is likely to expire soon.
At the same time, the shareholders' meeting disclosed that Cook's new tenure agreement will extend the term until 2028, during which the equity incentive ratio in his compensation structure will be increased to 65%, which is deeply bound to the company's stock price and environmental protection goals (achieving carbon neutrality in 2030).
During the presentation before the shareholder vote, Cook focused on the company's latest strategic trends. The first is to confirm the advancement of a US$500 billion US investment plan, which has been publicly praised by US President Trump; the second is to promise to continue to increase dividends. Apple will implement an annual dividend increase mechanism starting this year, and the specific increase will be disclosed to investors in May. Cook said that US$15.3 billion in dividends had been paid in the past four fiscal quarters, and the total cumulative dividend payment exceeded the US$165 billion mark.
It is worth mentioning that Apple shareholders also rejected a request to abolish the inclusion and diversity program on Monday, indicating that investors still believe that the company’s diversity program is valuable. The proposal, submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research, was rejected at Apple's annual shareholder meeting.
Apple shareholders also rejected several other external shareholder proposals involving the use of AI data and more. The proposal, by the National Law and Policy Center, suggests that Apple's partnership with OpenAI could conflict with Apple's privacy concerns and urges Apple to prepare a report on the risks of using personal or unauthorized data to train artificial intelligence. Apple shareholders rejected the proposal, saying it had already provided information on AI data privacy practices.