Tim Cook Lands $750m Bonanza In Share Award

It has been a very lucrative week for CEO Tim Cook, after Apple disclosed in a SEC filing on Thursday that he had received over 5 million shares.

And Cook lost little time and sold most of the restricted Apple stock for more than $750 million, the SEC filing reveals.

This latest tranche of stock is the final part of the compensation package that Cook agreed when he took over as CEO of Apple 10 years ago. Last year, he got a new compensation package that runs through 2026.

Cook pay day

It should be remembered that it was on 24 August 2011 when Cook took over the CEO role, due to the ill health of Steve Jobs – who then passed away several weeks later after losing a battle against pancreatic cancer.

Over the ten years in charge, Cook’s salary at Apple has gone up and down, depending on how well Apple’s share price has performed.

In the past three years it has performed very well indeed.

In August 2020 Tim Cook became a billionaire after his estimated net worth – as calculated by the Bloomberg Billionaires index – surged thanks to increases in Apple share price.

It should be remembered that it was only back in August 2018, when Apple became the first publicly listed US company worth $1 trillion, after its share price was buoyed by a stronger-than-expected earnings report.

Two years later in August 2020 Apple was valued at over $2 trillion.

Now a year after that it is currently valued at $2.4 trillion.

Cook’s latest share payout was linked to how well Apple’s shares performed compared to other firms on the S&P 500 stock index.

Apple’s share price has actually increased 1,200 percent since he became chief executive.

Charity move

Cook has reportedly donated almost $10m worth of Apple shares to charity, but has not named the recipient.

That said he has previously spoken publicly about HIV and Aids, climate change, human rights and equality.

In 2015, Tim Cook joined the Giving Pledge created by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and investment veteran Warren Buffett, which calls on billionaires to give away at least half of their fortunes.

The current net worth of Tim Cook, according to Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, is around $1.5bn.