Apple CEO Tim Cook just cashed in the final part of his decade-old compensation package: 5,040,000 Apple shares, worth roughly $750 million.
According to a SEC filing dated Tuesday, Apple withheld 2,653,560 shares for tax purposes, and Cook quickly sold the rest, meaning that he actually received around $355 million.
Cook received the compensation package in August 2011, when he took the helm of Apple. The amount of shares he would receive was tied to his performance, measured by the performance of Apple stock. And perform it did: Apple’s stock price went from roughly $13.50 in August 2011 to its current price of $147.54, with Apple becoming the world’s largest company, with a current market cap of $2.44 trillion.
It wasn’t exactly an easy task, though: Cook replaced one of the greatest CEOs of all time, Steve Jobs, who died due to complications from pancreatic cancer. And while Cook’s Apple was sometimes criticized for lacking the innovative drive that it had in the Jobs era, it’s hard to argue against Cook’s results in the market.
According to the BBC, last year Cook signed a new compensation package, which runs through 2026.
Cook was already a billionaire prior to this last payout, with a current net worth of about $1.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. Cook said in 2015 he plans to give away most of his wealth to charity.
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