Apple CEO Tim Cook takes home his highest-ever bonus
Fiscal 2018 turned out to be a great year for Apple, as well as its CEO, Tim Cook. With Apple having posted record revenues and profits, and having crossed the $1 trillion market cap mark briefly, Cook took home his biggest-ever annual bonus. However, fiscal 2019 for Apple has not got off to a great start. Here are the details.
Cook earned a whopping $136mn in fiscal 2018
For fiscal 2018, ended September 29, Cook took home a whopping $12mn in bonus, apart from the $3mn he received as his salary. Further, he got $121mn from his 10-year stock award, taking his total earnings for fiscal 2018 to $136mn. In addition to these payouts, Cook received perks of about $682,000.
Cook's bonus payments over the last four years
Cook's bonus payments have varied over the past four years, with the 58-year-old received $6.7mn, $8mn, $5.4mn, and $9.3mn in fiscals 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 respectively. 2016's low bonus was the result of a slump in Apple's sales.
Cook's pay-bump is resultant of Apple's 2018 performance
Expectedly, Cook's pay-bump came on the back of a robust performance by Apple in fiscal 2018. Apple raised the price of its flagship iPhone by nearly 50% to around $1,000 each, and despite flat sales in terms on numbers, the Cupertino-based giant raked in $166.7bn - an 18% increase over last fiscal. Meanwhile, Apple's services business grew by 24% to touch $37.19bn.
Apple had a stellar fiscal 2018
In August, Apple crossed the $1 trillion market cap milestone briefly. Meanwhile, Apple's revenue for fiscal 2018 totaled $265.6bn, while its operating income in the year hit $70.9bn Both exceeded Apple's maximum targets of $264bn for sales and $70bn for operating income and marked a 15%+ increase in Apple's performance compared to the last fiscal.
Fiscal 2019 has not started on a great note
However, while Apple had a stellar 2018, fiscal 2019 got off to a slow start for the tech giant. Despite posting record revenues and profits on November 1, Apple's shares have plunged more than 30% since, and the company has shed $400bn in market value as a consequence. This plunge was driven by concerns over stagnating iPhone sales.
Apple asks for investors' faith in its growing services business
In November, Cook also took the decision to stop posting numbers of iPhones sold, causing many investors to suspect that something was amiss. Apple, however, has told investors to focus more on its services business, which has registered sales growth of more than 20% for three consecutive years. Over the next five years, Apple expects services to account for 60% of its revenue gains.
As it stands, investors are apprehensive about Apple's future
Despite Apple's promises, Wall Street doesn't seem too impressed, with one analyst noting that growth in Apple's services business was "not a panacea" for its slowing iPhone sales. Although Apple earns around $30 in services from each of its 1.4 billion active iPhones, Wall Street is apprehensive that Apple's average revenue per user might decrease as more users choose refurbished, less expensive iPhones, over new, often prohibitively expensive ones.
