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The shareholders of Apple Inc have approved CEO Tim Cook’s annual salary and also agreed to a plan requiring the company to do a third-party civil rights audit on their policies and practices.
The compensation package was opposed by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), who said that the weight and structure of his equity award are unfair. However, investors accepted this opinion when they voted 64% in favor of Cook’s new contract on Friday.
Cook’s pay package was worth $98.7 million last year, a pay of 1,447 folds bigger than that of a regular employee; thanks to a stock grant as part of a long-term equity plan. A year earlier, he gained $14.8 million.
He is set to receive a grant of additional equity in 2023, which will give him even more incentives for success. In 2021, Cook was given 333,987 limited stock units in his initial stock grant since 2011 as part of the long-term equity plan.
In its most recent proxy filing, Apple stated that Cook’s stock reward was with the giant’s shareholders’ interest.
Cook’s management of the company has been a great success, with stocks soaring past 1100% since he took over in 2011 after co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down shortly before his death.
SOC Investment Group Executive Director Dieter Waizenegger, an advocate for civil rights and equality, said that Apple should take measures to reduce inequality within minority groups following this outcome.
“I think the patience of investors has run out,” said Waizenegger. “It’s time for Apple to take a serious step, including a third-party independent review of its measures.”
A shareholder proposal to require Apple to report on its utilization of concealment clauses passed by a close margin with 50% approval votes.
Some shareholders opposed proposals to increase transparency in the company’s efforts to protect employees from forced labor and another issue of gender pay gaps.
Apple was against these proposals, while ISS told shareholders to approve them.
Opinions expressed by NY Weekly contributors are their own.
