Apple’s Tim Cook Gets Top 2011 Salary: $378m`

Tim Cook, Steve Job’s successor at Apple earned a record breaking salary package in 2011, according to reports.

The package, offered to Cook after taking over from Jobs in August last year, totals $378 million (£244m) in salary, bonuses and stocks.

Show me the money

While the salary package was listed as having been earned last year, Cook, who received salary and bonuses worth $900,000 (£581 771) each, will only be eligible to claim the 1 million restricted stock units, currently valued at $376 million (£243m), if he remains with the company for 10 years, since half of the stock units will vest in August 2016, the other half in August 2021.

This is in stark contrast to Steve Jobs’ salary of $1 (64p) per year, although he Apple founder did receive 5.5m shares over his career, valued at at $2.3 billion (£1.5bn).

This salary package should not be viewed as compensation for 2011 only, according to the company, but rather a 10-year retention incentive in order to engender stability in the company’s leadership going forward.

According to an Associated Press report, Cook currently holds approximately 1.36 million restricted, unvested shares and 13,754 regular shares with a combined value of $580 million (£375m).

Apple, curerntly leading the market in mobile devices, posted a quarterly net profit of $6.62 billion (34.3bn) in its fourth quarter ended September 24, 2011.