How Apple CEO Tim Cook earned a bonus of $280 million

Most CEOs at big tech companies have bonus-linked compensation in their pay packages and Tim Cook is no different. The CEO of Apple received his annual stock payout of 5,60,000 shares of Apple, which are worth more than $280 million.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Cook got this payout based on his “continued service as CEO” and the performance of Apple against stock performance compared to other companies. Cook has been receiving this annual payout for the last nine years, since he succeeded Steve Jobs in August 2011.

A report by CultofMac also revealed that Cook netted $132 million after immediately selling the restricted stock units. The report quotes a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which revealed that after the company’s “statutory tax withholding, which came out to 294,840 stock units, Cook was left with 265,160 vested units that were immediately sold in multiple trades executed at prices ranging from $493.50 to $500.11” in the last two days, as per the report by CultofMac.