Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund To Vote Against Apple's Executive Pay Plan

The pay disparity between Apple, Inc. AAPL CEO Tim Cook and an average worker at the company has raised many eyebrows, and the latest to oppose the executive compensation plan is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund.

What Happened: Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, aka Oil Fund, which has over $1.3 trillion in assets, said on Sunday it would vote against Apple's executive compensation plan.

The fund stated that a substantial proportion of the annual remuneration of the CEO should be provided in shares that are locked in, for five to 10 years. It called for transparency on total remuneration to avoid "unacceptable outcomes."

The board should ensure that all benefits have a clear business rationale, the fund said while explaining its voting rationale. It also opined that pensionable income should constitute a minor part of total remuneration.

The Oil fund is also at odds with the management recommendations on shareholder proposals which include transparency, forced labor, a civil rights audit and sustainability disclosures.

The voting intention was filed ahead of Apple's annual shareholder meeting, which is being held virtually at 12 p.m. EST, on March 4, 2022.

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Why It's Important: Earlier this month, Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services urged shareholders to vote against Cook's pay package.

Cook's total compensation in 2021 stood at $98.7 million, including $82 million in stock awards at the time of the grant, $12 million in a cash bonus and $3 million in salary.

This is about 1,500 times of what an average Apple employee makes a year.

Recently, reports suggested the company's store employees are planning to unionize in a bid to express their dissatisfaction over wages.

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