Apple shareholders approved chief executive officer Tim Cook’s annual compensation in a virtual meeting on Friday, rejecting some investor concerns over the magnitude of his equity award.
Cook, who took the helm in 2011, last year received a compensation package with a total value of US$98.7 million, a sum 1,447 times that of the average employee, thanks to a stock grant as part of a long-term equity plan.
He earned $14.8 million a year earlier.
Cook received 333,987 restricted stock units in 2021 in his first stock grant since 2011 as part of the long-term equity plan. He will be eligible to receive additional units in 2023.
Cook took the helm in August 2011 after the company’s co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down months before his demise. The stock has risen over 1,100% since he took the top job.
Shareholders voted against proposals calling on Apple to increase transparency in the company’s efforts to protect workers in its supply chain from forced labour and another on gender and racial pay gaps.
Apple had opposed these transparency proposals, while proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services had urged shareholders to support them.
Investors also approved a proposal urging Apple to oversee and report on a third-party civil rights audit of the company’s policies and practices.
