Why A Prominent Advisory Firm Is Advocating For Apple Investors To Vote Against CEO Tim Cook's Pay Package

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is urging Apple Inc AAPL investors to vote against CEO Tim Cook’s pay packet, which is more than a thousandfold higher than an average company employee.

What Happened: Cook’s equity award is valued at $75 million by ISS, which is 1,447 times that of an average employee at the iPhone maker, as per the company's January filing. 

“There are significant concerns regarding the design and magnitude of the equity award made to CEO Cook in FY21... Half of the award lacks performance criteria," wrote ISS in a letter Wednesday, according to a Reuters report. 

“Half of the $75 million award is purely time-based, and the award would continue to vest in full in the event of his retirement,” wrote ISS.

See Also: How To Buy Apple (AAPL) Shares

Why It Matters: Cook’s base salary remained $3 million through 2019 and 2021. In 2021, together with stock awards, the total compensation awarded to him was $98.7 million.

Compared with 2020, when Cook received $14.7 million, the CEO’s salary rose sixfold.

Cook has been the CEO of Apple since 2011, during his time as the leader of the company it touched a market cap of $3 trillion. When Apple became a $2 trillion company, Cook had become a billionaire.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Apple shares fell 0.1% lower at $172.55 in the regular session and declined another 0.2% to $172.17 in the after-hours trading.

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Photo: Courtesy of Pierre Lecourt via Flickr