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Apple CEO Tim Cook found no stocking stuffers in his paycheck this year.
His $4.2 million pay package amounted to a huge cut on paper and was a far cry from last year’s $378 million — one of the biggest on record for a CEO in a decade.
The massive drop was due to the fact that Cook received only cash this year. In 2011, his first year at the helm of the iPhone maker, he got a stock award for 100 million shares that vest over 10 years.
The disparity did not reflect on Cook’s performance, which by most measures was impressive.
In fact, Cook received a $500,000 bump in salary this year, to $1.4 million, while his $2.8 million bonus was the max he could have received at twice his salary, according to Apple’s filing.
“Despite this increase, the target annual cash compensation for Mr. Cook remains significantly below the median annual cash compensation level for CEOs at peer companies,” Apple said in the filing.
The company boosted pay for several senior executives, including Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, who got $68.6 million in pay, up from $1.42 million a year earlier. His stock awards are valued at $66.2 million.
Since Cook took over as CEO last year, Apple has become the most valuable public company in the world. He has refreshed Apple’s product lineup, including rolling out the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini.
Cook also had a big setback, when Apple dumped Google Maps in favor of its own flawed mapping software, sparking a backlash among users.
Shares have gained 38 percent under Cook’s reign, and are up more than 25 percent year to date. The stock hit a high of $702.10 on Sept. 19.
Nevertheless, in recent months investors concerned with lower profit margins and stiffer competition have cut those gains. Shares are off 25 percent since September. They rose $2.06 to $515.06 yesterday.