He may be the head of one of the highest profile tech companies on the planet, but he’s still not immune to getting penalized if he doesn’t meet certain business goals. And that is precisely what has happened to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Apple released its SEC filing on Friday, with net sales of $215.6 billion falling 3.6 percent short of the $223.68 billion target. Operating income came in at $60 billion, missing its $60.3 billion forecast by 0.5 percent. “As a result of this performance, Apple’s executives received 89.5 percent of their potential annual cash incentive, as opposed to the 100 percent they received after the record-breaking 2015,” says BGR.
Cook’s 2016 compensation was $8.75 million, compared to $10 million the previous year. Five other members of Apple’s top brass, including SVP of retail Angela Ahrendts and SVP of internet software and services Eddy Cue, “saw their total compensation drop by over $2 million as well.”
Via MSN, Apple stated in its filing, “Overall, our 2016 performance with respect to net sales and operating income was 7.7 percent and 15.7 percent below our record-breaking 2015 levels,” Apple said. “However, the 2016 payouts to our named executive officers were significantly less than the annual cash incentive payouts for 2015, reflecting strong pay-for-performance alignment.”
The Los Angeles Times also notes that this is the first time since 2001 that Apple’s total revenue has declined. That was just before the late Steve Jobs rolled out a nifty game changer called the iPod, and we all know how that one turned out.
There are a variety of reasons for Apple’s mild economic slump. The smartwatch “revolution” hasn’t taken off like some had hoped/predicted it would, and people are holding on to their iPhones longer, putting off an upgrade to the next version. “That has raised investor concerns that Apple has become too dependent on the iPhone, a nagging worry that has been aggravated by the company’s inability to introduce another breakthrough product since Jobs’ death in 2011,” the Times stated. Christmas shopping numbers are due out later this month.
