Apple has achieved milestones after milestones. And credited for the achievements, is CEO Tim Cook.
When Apple became a $1 trillion company back in 2018, the company was still way behind Saudi's oil company Aramco.
But when Apple surpassed $1.5 trillion market capitalization, things started to change.
This is because it didn't take long for Apple to finally surpassed Aramco, and became the largest publicly-traded company in the world, to then became the first $2 trillion dollar American company.
Around that time, Cook was first considered a billionaire, as his net worth surpassed $1 billion.
And this time, after Apple reached a $3 trillion market capitalization, according to a statement from Apple, Cook's earnings totaled at $98.7 million in base salary, stock, and other compensation,
Cook earned a $3 million base salary, and he was also provided with stock award worth $82,347,835.
This stock that Cook owns, is RSUs, or Restricted Stock Units, meaning that it is meant to reward him based on his performance as an employee of Apple.
And here, the RSUs Cook owns, include $44.8 million in performance-based stock awards and $37.5 million in time-based stock awards.
On top of that, Cook also had more than 5 million shares vest in 2021, which netted him a total of $754 million. Because these were granted in earlier years, the $754 million doesn't count as part of his 2021 compensation package.
In addition to the $3 million salary and $82 million stock grant, Cook also received $12 million as non-equity incentive plan compensation and $1,386,559 in "Other" compensation.
This includes a $23,077 vacation payout, $630,630 in security expenses, and $712,488 in personal air travel, which includes paying for hourly flight charges and other variable costs, variable fuel charges, departure fees, and landing fees.
Apple requires Cook to use a private airplane for all of his business and personal travel for "security and efficiency reasons."
Paying for CEO's private jet costs appears to be a tradition for Apple, as Cook's predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was rewarded a 22-seat private jet named "N2N" when he returned to Apple in 2000.
And lastly, Cook, who is known as the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 listed company, also received $630,630 for security expenses.
In regards to Cook’s compensation specifically, Apple noted in the proxy filling that 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of Cook’s tenure as CEO, and it is for the first time that Cook was granted an equity award:
Because this is Cook’s first-ever equity grant award, Apple adjusted how it calculated its CEO pay ratio in 2021.
The company said that it determined its compensated employee by using base salary, bonuses, commissions, and grant date fair value of equity awards granted to employees in 2021.
As such, the total compensation of Apple’s median compensated employee was $68,254, compared to Tim Cook’s $98,734,394 total compensation.
This makes for a CEO pay ratio of 1,447 to 1.
Other Apple executives such as CFO Luca Maestri, General Counsel Kate Adams, COO Jeff Williams, and SVP of Retail and People Deirdre O'Brien received compensation ranging from $26 million to $27 million.