Apple announces it will cut its CEO's salary by 40%

Tim Cook earned a total of $99.4 million in 2022. This year, the CEO himself asked that his salary be reduced and will earn $49 million.

Big Tech continues to experience a huge crisis. Not a day goes by that one of the tech giants does not announce layoffs or salary cuts. For that reason, Apple CEO Tim Cook decided to voluntarily lower his salary. According to the company, Cook will receive 40% less than what he made last year. This year, he will earn $49 million compared to the $99.4 million he pocketed in 2022.

Of this, $3 million corresponds to his base salary, while the remaining salary comes from profits from the shares he owns in the company. Cook will reduce his percentage earned and, moreover, as detailed in a document filed by the company with the country's Securities and Exchange Commission, the rest will depend almost entirely on the good performance of the business.

A measure to appease shareholders

The unusual decision Cook decided to make comes, according to the company's annual proxy statement, "in response to shareholder feedback." Apple declined to comment further on its CEO's decision, however The Washington Post found that, in the proxy statement, the company acknowledged that this move balanced "shareholder feedback, a desire to continue to create meaningful performance and retention incentives, and Mr. Cook’s support for changes to his compensation."

With this, the Apple executive put an end to the unrest that had generated among some of the company's shareholders. Last year the CEO faced a lot of criticism from the tech giant's investors when they became aware of Cook's huge salary bonuses.

In fact, as recalled by Business Insider, last year one of the leading international shareholder consultancies, Institutional Shareholder Services, asked Apple investors to vote against Cook's pay package. They alleged that the Apple CEO's 2021 earnings were excessive at approximately $100 million. This figure is  equivalent to 1,447 times the average salary of any worker in the company and according to statements made at the time and reported in the Financial Times, the company's senior management "significantly exceeded" the benefits received by senior managers in other comparable companies.