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Apple boss picked up $10.3M last year, though his VPs got plenty more

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Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple boss Tim Cook got a $1-million+ pay raise last year.

Cook, who took the CEO role in 2011 following the death of Steve Jobs, picked up a useful $10.3 million in fiscal 2015 (ending September), up from $9.2 million a year earlier. It may not sound like a lot for the boss of a giant like Apple, but keep in mind he also has more than $500 million worth of Apple shares to his name.

Breaking it down, $2 million of Cook’s 2015 income was salary, while private security accounted for $209,000. The bulk of it was a hefty bonus payment of $8 million, a regulatory filing revealed.

Bigger annual payouts went to five of the tech company’s senior VPs, each of whom received a tasty $25 million.

Among the recipients was Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts. The former Burberry boss, who joined the company in 2014, received a $1 million base salary, a $20 million stock grant, a bonus worth $4 million, and relocation expenses of almost $475,000, Re/code said.

Apple reported record profits of $53 billion on sales of $233.7 billion in the fiscal year ending September, 2015. The filing noted that the tech titan beat performance targets for net sales and operating income, paving the way for the bumper payouts.

However, it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the iPhone maker. Despite reporting record-breaking earnings throughout last year, the company’s stock has been having something of a rough time, in 2015 experiencing its first down year since 2008.

Apple’s stock fell further this week after Nikkei reported the Cupertino company was cutting production of its latest iPhone 6S and 6S Plus handsets by as much as 30 percent in the January-to-March quarter.

Nikkei said in its report that Apple’s two smartphone models, which launched last September, have “piled up at retailers in markets ranging from China and Japan to Europe and the U.S. amid lackluster sales.”

Apple’s share value currently stands at $100.70, it’s lowest value in the last year and well down from a 12-month high of $133 reached back in February, 2015.

Team Apple will be hoping to get things back on track this year, with a slew of new products expected, among them new iPhones and possibly an iPhone 6C/7C, an overhauled Apple Watch, and an updated iPad Air.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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