Apple's Cook gets US$9.22m in pay as stock reaches high

[SAN FRANCISCO] Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook received compensation valued at US$9.22 million last year, more than double his pay in 2013, as optimism for new products pushed the iPhone maker's stock to a record.

The company also said Mickey Drexler, CEO and chairman of J. Crew Group Inc., will retire from Apple's board, where he's served as a director since 1999. A replacement wasn't named.

Cook's package includes salary of US$1.75 million and US$6.7 million in non-equity incentive compensation for the fiscal year that ended in September, the Cupertino, California-based company said Thursday in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Cook was granted a pay package valued at US$4.25 million in 2013.

Confidence in Apple has grown since Cook unveiled larger- screened iPhones in September and slimmer, faster iPad tablets in October. The company's stock rose as high as US$119.75 in November, sending its market capitalization to more than US$700 billion, a milestone that no other US company has reached. Cook also rolled out a mobile-payment system called Apple Pay, and this year will debut the company's first smartwatch.

Apple in October forecast that revenue in the final three months of 2014 would be US$63.5 billion to $66.5 billion. That would exceed Apple's holiday sales of US$57.6 billion for the end of 2013. The company will report first-quarter earnings on Jan. 27. Apple finished fiscal 2014 posting full-year net income of US$39.5 billion, an increase from US$37 billion in 2013.

Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, was named CEO in August 2011 to succeed co-founder Steve Jobs, who died later that year. Cook received compensation in 2011 of US$378 million, one of the biggest pay packages on record, boosted by US$376.2 million in stock awards that he'll get over a decade.

The CEO's compensation last year included security expenses of $699,133, the first time Apple disclosed those type of costs for Cook.

Angela Ahrendts, hired last year to run Apple's retail and online stores from Burberry Group Plc, where she was CEO, received a 2014 compensation package worth US$73.4 million. That includes US$70 million worth of stock. Her salary was US$411,538.

Luca Maestri, who was promoted to chief financial officer last year, received pay worth US$14 million, including a US$717,211 salary and US$11.3 million in stock. Eddy Cue, head of Internet software and services, and Jeff Williams, head of operations, both received packages worth about US$24 million, including salaries of US$947,596 and stock worth US$20 million.

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