Apple CEO Tim Cook Earned $265 Million In 2020: Here's The Breakdown

Tim Cook has been the CEO of Apple since 2011 after founder Steve Jobs stepped down from the position in that same year. He has continued to bring success to the tech firm, which became the first company to reach a market value of $2 trillion last year. Cook’s role has given him lucrative financial compensation, earning $265 million in 2020.

The chief executive officer’s 2020 earnings breakdown shows his base salary was $3 million, but he was given a $10 million bonus. Majority of Cook’s 2020 compensation came from options awards that totaled $250.3 million while the remaining $1 million was from perks, as per Bloomberg.

Apple’s success is the primary reason that Cook has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion as of Aug. 29, 2021. The CEO owns about 3.3 million shares of the tech company and has sold hundreds of millions worth over the years, Forbes reported.

Cook currently has a base salary of $3.4 million per year and is given an annual bonus of $8 million to $12 million. The billionaire is also given a large amount of Apple options on top of his base salary and bonuses. To date, he has received about $963.5 million worth of total compensation from the tech firm, as per Celebrity Net Worth.

On the day that Cook took the position of Apple’s CEO, he was given a large grant of options that vested in 10 annual increments, where he was given the first upfront. The majority of the grant was performance-based, so the more success that the tech firm had, the more he was paid.

This year marks the last tranche of Cook’s pay deal with Apple, and so far it has given the billionaire more than five million shares, which are estimated to be worth about $750 million. The CEO was eligible for the award after the tech company’s shares rose by 191.83% in the last three years, according to Business Standard.

The entrepreneur’s latest financial compensation is nearly three times his ninth grant last year, where he was given 560,000 shares valued at about $252 million before tax. The compensation’s worth was based on a $450 price per share.