Apple’s board rewarded CEO Tim Cook with a sizable increase in compensation for the company’s fiscal year 2017, which saw the company return to growth after a rough 2016.
Cook’s total pay package was valued at $12,825,066 for the 12 months ending September 30, 2017, according to the company’s annual proxy statement that was filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s up from $8,747,719 in fiscal 2016, which saw Apple’s first dip in annual revenues in more than a decade as a result of lower iPhone sales.
The company rebounded in the latest fiscal year as it sold 216.7 million iPhones, up from 211.88 million in 2016, though still below the peak of 231.22 million iPhones sold in 2015.
Likewise, Apple reported annual revenues of $229.23 billion in fiscal 2017, up from $215.64 billion in 2016, but less than the $233.72 billion in 2015.
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Still, the result was that Apple met or beat most of the financial targets for executives set by the board. For Cook, that meant that his annual cash “incentive plan” reward increased to $9,327,000 in fiscal 2017, up from $5,370,000 in 2016.
A footnote to Cook’s compensation also stated the following:
As an additional security measure for Mr. Cook, the Board also requires that he use private aircraft for all business and personal travel. This policy was implemented in 2017 in the interests of security and efficiency based on our global profile and the highly visible nature of Mr. Cook’s role as CEO. Mr. Cook recognizes imputed taxable income and is not provided a tax reimbursement for personal use of private aircraft.
The filing did not offer additional reasons for the new air travel policy.
As a result, the value of Cook’s compensation also included “security expenses in the amount of $224,216” and “personal air travel expenses in the amount of $93,109.”
Cook’s annual compensation total doesn’t include the far more lucrative vesting of his restricted stock grant. When Cook became CEO in 2011, he received a large package of RSUs. That stock now vests annually if the company meets certain benchmarks. This year, according to the filing, about 560,000 shares vested in fiscal 2017 worth a total of about $89.2 million.
Fiscal 2017 was also a good one for shareholders, as Apple’s stock rose 36.7 percent over the 12 months.
