The Apple board of directors has approved new remunerations for its top executives, following the effective arrival of John Ternus as CEO, replacing Tim Cook, who has moved to the position of executive chairman. The iPhone manufacturer, the second largest company in the world by market capitalization, with a market value of $4.75 trillion (about €4.10 trillion), has raised Ternus’s salary to three million dollars and granted him a restricted stock package worth 2.5 million, prorated for the few weeks he will serve as CEO before the end of the company’s 2026 fiscal year, at the end of September.
For the 2027 fiscal year, Apple’s board separately approved an annual stock bonus for Ternus with a target value of $55 million.
Three quarters of this bonus will vest based on Apple’s total shareholder return compared to other companies in the S&P 500. The remainder will vest progressively, 12.5% every six months over four years. Ternus, who yesterday introduced himself to Apple employees from his new CEO position, will face his first major event in the role next week, with the presentation of the new iPhone models, a key business for the company as it accounts for nearly half of its revenue.
Meanwhile, Tim Cook, who has held the CEO position at Apple for the past 15 years, succeeding the late Steve Jobs, will remain as executive chairman. The executive has seen his salary reduced from three million to two million dollars, effective at the end of this month.
At the same time, Apple’s board approved a stock compensation of $45 million for the executive, half in restricted stock units (RSUs) vesting over four years, and the other half based on his performance.
Nothing is yet known about an annual cash bonus for Ternus. According to Apple’s reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Cook received a $12 million bonus in each of the last two fiscal years.
U.S. specialized media point out that the scenario is very different from the last time Apple changed CEOs, when Cook succeeded the late Steve Jobs in 2011. At that time, the company granted Cook one million RSUs with a grant date value of $376 million, in addition to a salary of $900,000 that the board increased to $1.4 million a few months after he took office. Half of the compensation vested five years after the grant date, and the other half ten years later.
The board’s decision was subjective, according to the U.S. press, and was not based on any benchmark group or formula. At that time, Jobs earned only one dollar in salary but owned a stake of 5.5 million Apple shares, valued in the billions. The board determined Cook’s remuneration based on information provided by Jobs and on the evaluation conducted of Cook during his interim leadership periods while Jobs was absent for health reasons. The Apple co-founder passed away in October 2011, after resigning from the position on August 24 of that same year.
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