r/technology • u/geoxol • Jan 13 '23 • Bravo! 1 Helpful (Pro) 1

Apple CEO Tim Cook to take more than 40% pay cut Business

https://apnews.com/article/technology-apple-inc-tim-cook-business-d056553b10120c4a968b562cb7ece5d2
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u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23 edited Jan 13 '23

As he should. Other CEOs should follow the same path. When the company does well you get a chunk. When it does bad you get a cut. You don’t trickle down till last resort as those under you get crumbs when it’s doing well.

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u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 13 '23

This already happens with the stock based compensation, which often accounts for > 70% of the compensation.

Doing worse --> stock goes down --> lower compensation

2

u/aManPerson Jan 13 '23

it's also a pretty easy way to live when that money is 100x more than what you need to live.

-1

u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

The parent comment is about reducing compensation when the company doesn't do well.

I get it you are angry that people are rich. But it is not relevant to the topic here.

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u/Ausgezeichnet87 Jan 14 '23

No one is angry that people are rich. They are angry that people have gotten rich by using slave labor (3rd world sweat shops) and exploiting workers in general.

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u/lol_ok123 Jan 14 '23

No one mentioned that

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u/ThatOtherPerson1 Jan 14 '23

No one needed to. It just is.

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u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

Google pays engineers >100k/year. The median pay is 200k a year. It doesn't feel like a sweatshop nor slave labor.

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u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

This is a loaded response.

​

CEO - 2000 stock options

Employee - 0 or 100 with a 5, 10, 20 year option. (When laid off before they can vest... this was pointless)

​

CEO Pay - 5 Mil

Employee Pay - 15-40 an hour.

​

Saying the CEO pay is lower compensation is irrelevant as those employees take the same hit. The CEO is the head, if the head is making bad calls, leading to layoffs, down sizing, pay cuts for those under. They should have the same responsibility.

​

Saying they get 5 Mil salary, and 2000 stock options and the value of their stock goes down is the same as the employee who barely getting by getting laid off while the CEO who screwed up via their leadership, still keeps their job and 5 mil a years, is a major disconnect on your behalf.

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u/mwraaaaaah Jan 13 '23

for tim cook, the numbers are closer to:

  • 3m salary and up to 6m bonus
  • ~50m in stock (almost ~375k shares)

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u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

Eh I wasn’t referring to Tim specifically. Just generalized numbers to paint a picture.

2

u/slashrshot Jan 13 '23

and stock value can rise again (see 2008 to now)
check salary raises from that period to now.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

If your father pays you for chores and you slack on the chores, he gives you less or no payment.

If your father gifts you a house, a car, etc and it’s legally in your name. He doesn’t take it back. I get how stock options and being vested works.

When they hire a ceo the stocks entice them to take the job. Similar to how certain roles get similar offers but extremely less shares or long term execution windows on the options.

If they are failing you cut salary cause that’s what you can do. You can’t take back stocks that are vested or bonuses without extreme cause. Allowing the c level team or board to decide that it’s better to punish the staff under leadership due to the faults of leadership is foolish and bad practice. There a reason other countries have much stronger labor laws in place.

Do you know how any of this works or are you fixated on the fact he has 50mil in stocks?

If the stock market crashes and those are worth $10, he still has his salary.

My point is simple,

Failing CEO or C level executives at companies that are failing, down sizing, cutting pay should be starting at the top instead of mid level down as is the trend.

To follow this up, there should be laws in place to protect salaries when companies want to be more profitable and cut.

1

u/slashrshot Jan 13 '23

i was commenting on that stock based compensation is hard to value because they tend to go up in value.
example: SE gave their early employees 1000s of stock as bonus when it was in the 20s
it went to 300 and those people became millionaires.

same for the CEO, he could be getting the same amount of stock buts valued lesser now. and when it goes back up he makes the same amount or more anyway.

as for cutting pay, this is already common in the japan industry.
there was someone who argued against me when i said this should be the norm in america too lmao

1

u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

Got ya, apologies, I’ve had DM and other posts about stocks implying either cutting salary wasn’t enough or cutting is pointless. Where as to me cutting that salary effects budgets.

I get what you mean in regards to the value of stocks or options.

I have options at three companies that I am vested in and hope one day I get the same kick you noted lol.

1

u/slashrshot Jan 14 '23

the story does not end well tho LOL.
the newer people who joined at the peak got 100 shares vested over 5 years LMAO.
and the stock price fell off a cliff so they got shafted so hard.
which was my takeaway: join unicorns at the start not at the bubble. :3

hopefully you get your payout tho! life is about opportunities and luck.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

Yep,

My fear for at least one of my companies, is if I don’t instant sale I’m screwed. It’s a niche investing firm. They purchase companies in niche markets and stand them up to build out a portfolio of profitable / successful companies. They have done it before. The last time they went public, the top end of their team mass sold off their shares. Opening price was like $5, they sold at 180. A lot of people posted online about it that worked there. Basically they found out they were public. Thought it best to hold. Then saw the sale off and have shares worth a few thousand while a handful of people made 100,000k-1 mil.

It’s all a game. Sucks that it is, but it is.

2

u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

Help me manage this employee:

- He makes me $20 billions per year for 10 years straight

- I pay him $50 millions a year. He makes more than 99.999999%. I think $50 millions a year is more than enough. Right? Right?

- This year he made the company only $5 billions per year.

Should I fire him? I feel he might not worth the salary of $50 millions anymore. Please help me make this decision.

Obviously, Tim has an extremely strong negotiating power that nobody wants to fire him because it is extremely rare to find a person who can lead a trillion dollar company. The value that he has added to Apple is 100x more than his salary.

Can't say the same about a janitor.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

The fact you think he is the reason they make $20 billion is the problem with everything you stated.

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u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

He is leading a company through a strong growth over the past decade.

Yeah, he is accountable for it more than other people. Definitely more than a janitor for sure.

I want to be proved wrong. Name one person in apple who has more influence on the revenue than Tim Cook.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

Every single person in the below role has more impact. Their leads and managers who filter their work to a handful of ideas that fit a template Apple been using for over a decade (not Tim).

All Tim does is make sure the boat on course. He and most CEO are not apart of every grand idea. Majority of them just get it presented to them and told it’s good and agree or disagree.

You live in fantasy my friend. Have you ever even met a C Level employee and had conversations with them?

There a thing call ground level, 50 foot, 100 foot, 1000 foot, 10,000 foot views.

You act like Tim is involved in all of this.

1

u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

Every single person in the below role

A single software engineer has more impact than Tim Cook?

I think we can agree to disagree.

The whole job market and industry also disagree with you. Not just me.

You live in fantasy my friend.

You are living in the fantasy.

If Apple didn't reward good work appropriately, it would have failed a very long time ago.

Appropriate compensation is one of the core reasons a company succeeds or fails.

Have you ever even met a C Level employee and had conversations with them?

I never talked to Tim Cook before

Have you talked to Tim Cook before?

Wow, you must be very influential in order to have met a lot of Apple C suite to draw this conclusion.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

I said every single one. Here I’ll share. Tim leads democratically. He works with a group who makes the decision. He doesn’t and rarely over rules.

Those developers and designers are what the consumers are paying for.

Your ignorances is astonishing.

Do some googling before you talk on a topic in an idealistic manner.

1

u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

I said every single one. Here I’ll share. Tim leads democratically. He works with a group who makes the decision. He doesn’t and rarely over rules.

This sounds like a great leadership.

Do some googling before you talk on a topic in an idealistic manner.

Ah so you never talked to them either. Why did you ask if I had talked to c level suite?

I did Google. Apple has an amazing growth around 10x. Tim is highly rated by the employees.

It looks like he has done a great job as the leader of the company.

Please do name one software engineer who has more impact to Apple than him. You haven't done so.

1

u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

I said every single one.

oh I get you now. Apple has 100,000 software engineers, and you mean, in aggregate, a set of 100,000 software engineers has more impact than Tim Cook.

I agree!

Tim Cook is paid $50M a year.

A set of 100,000 software engineers is paid 25,000,000,000. This is calculated from 100,000 * 250,000 (an average salary for engineers).

It seems every one is appropriately compensated, no?

Back to the original point, who is not compensated properly here?

When a company doesn't do well, Tim's compensation is reduced based on the stock performance. The set of 100,000 software engineers' compensation is also reduced by reducing the number of software engineers. That seems fair.

Relatively, Tim's compensation is actually reduced much more.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

Do you even know what his leadership style is or you just spouting bs?

1

u/Particular_Bobcat Jan 14 '23

We all know the result. It is a public company.

The company grew 10x under his leadership.

Do you even know what his leadership style is or you just spouting bs?

Do you know him personally? And you have evaluated him and his result, and you think he is incompetent?

Wow, I have met a random redditor who constantly have access to a billionaire like Tim Cook to evaluate his competence.

Wow, unreal. Reddit is so amazing sometimes.

1

u/Lehmanite Jan 13 '23

The stock options are far larger than the salary in most cases. By multiples. And idk what you expect, but what Cook is facing is about as good as it’s going to get in terms of CEO accountability

1

u/unkinhead Jan 13 '23

Wait what. How on earth is that the same hit? I think you're making a mistake in evaluating this based on a massively successful company as the example. The net value is astronomically felt more on the top end of the distribution, and for smaller businesses this becomes much more extreme.

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u/sir_mrej Jan 14 '23

Lol not really.

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u/Konradleijon Jan 13 '23

It happens a lot in Japan. Where CEOs feel like company performance is their fault

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u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

In the end, that’s what being a CEO is. You are the driver, you make decisions and corrections. If you fail to do so or make the wrong ones… it’s on you.

America is just using corporations as modern day fiefdoms.

1

u/Konradleijon Jan 13 '23

Satou Iwata CEO of Nintendo famously slashed his salary when the Wii U wasn’t doing well.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

I recall this. They also manage their money extremely well. Their treasury has a back stop of funding that carry them through hard times, while their C level employees put the company first and them selves.

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u/Flimsy_Tooth_4443 Jan 13 '23

Imo companies really should be forced to hold an emergency fund. X$ depending on average revenue of past 3 years and number of staff or something.

Basically enough that you could have a COVID type downturn and have enough cash to pay employees for a full year before needing to make lay-offs.

It's disgusting that companies just boom and bust so callously

2

u/Anxiet Jan 13 '23

Check out Nintendo and what they did with all the money from the first Nintendo up to n64. They basically fit this. Different cultures tho. America wants instant profit and gratification. We now fact a hard shift of buy this and then subscribe. Look at the car industry.

Government should be there to protect people from these types of malicious practice but with current lobbying and big pacs. We have what we have.

It’s sad.

1

u/morpheousmarty Jan 14 '23

Is apple doing poorly? And won't releasing a USBC iphone break all sales records?

1

u/Bad-news-co Jan 14 '23

Yeah, you get what you earn. I understand so many complaining on this post about his pay lol but people are only looking at things in one way; how much he earns compared to the average person.

Yeah, it’s a LOT more, obviously lol. But I’m these types of companies, they are very high risk as their influence reaches across dozens of different markets. What apple does affects what all of their highest competition does, as well as the companies in other sectors.. basically every little move is calculated way beyond comprehension.

He’s been able to sustain the company ever since Jobs, regardless of what the typical critic will say, he’s done well at keeping the company afloat and above. People will criticize and say he hasn’t done anything substantial but you don’t realize how much is at play every single day. EVERY product, every service, everything, it could’ve all went south real fast. Look at how much CEO’s in the past have ranked apple in a short amount of time, just a few years at that.

He’s been in this over a decade now with double that under jobs. It’d only make sense for him to receive a cut of the pie for keeping apple in the green. What he gets paid doesn’t affect the company’s well being at all. People are acting that his salary is heavily putting the company at risk lol it doesn’t.

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

I’m curious what your background is? Some of what you say is valid, however the majority in regards to this context is a fallacy.

CEO is not a “high risk” position. It is insulated in layers that scale with the company. They have risk management, project management, every type of specialist you can think of in roles to avoid these major risks.

To take this point further, look at Target, Chikfila, Equiafax, etc. these are perfect examples of once again the people in power, who approve the budget having no pain for their failures. Each one of them had MASSIVE data breaches. They blamed the lower level people.

Oil spills… blame the trucker, the captain of the ship, the container manufacture.

This isn’t the 50s or 30s where the leaders take the fall for f ups. That’s the point of my post.

As far as his performance. Once again that’s bullshit. You can install almost anyone and if they make no major changes they will succeed. It’s people who come in to a ship that’s fine and make drastic changes “Disney” who get cut. The only risk is themselves.

The only role that I see as high risk in senior management these days is an Information Technology security officer. The rest get to pass the buck. InfoSec is just a fall guy during breaches and they get paid damn well to fall.

I’m not against Tim Cook by the way. I’m again the bs corporate practice of fucking the small guy.

As far as his pay effecting the company. Do you understand how man low to mid level employees can stay on board or avoid pay cuts if he cuts his pay by 1 million? Do you grasp how invalid your statement is? You know how many Apple Store employees that is? Customer support roles?

1

u/Chris_M_23 Jan 14 '23

He made $102.4 million in 2022… and he is only taking a 40% pay cut on his base salary of $3 million (down to $1.8 million). I wouldn’t be surprised if he personally paid to have this story put up for the PR

1

u/Anxiet Jan 14 '23

I understand in the grand scheme of his stocks, net worth, etc… this isn’t much to “him”. However 1 million dollars is a lot of apple stores employees not losing a job or having hours cutt. Etc.

Yes, more could be done and to me should be done. However this is a step in the right direction and as I stated, other CEO should follow.

The world economy is in shambles, lay offs are rampant.

1

u/Chris_M_23 Jan 14 '23

In all fairness, I totally understand your point and I agree with your sentiment.

However, nowhere has it been said that this is money is going to be diverted to other employees pay within the company. Apple will most likely just look at this as cutting $1.2 million in costs this year.

1

u/42gether Jan 14 '23

I disagree, there's no reason why he should make 50 million a month.

LITERALLY nobody should be making more than 1 million a month, fuck even that is excessive.