Renowned CEO Tim Cook just received a first-time pay cut along with the first ever sales slump of the tech giant Apple since 2001 when the iPhone and iPads were released. Despite the 15% cut on his bonus, his base salary increased from $2 million to $3 million for 2016.
Securities and Exchange Commission released the proximity statement that identified Cook’s salary to drop from $10.3 million in 2015 to an $8.7 million in total last year. Apple disclosed its sales of $215.6 billion, missing its $223.68 billion target. Moreover, the company’s $60 billion operating system also fell by 0.5 percent.
Amid the release of the new wireless AirPods, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as well as the MacBook Pro in 2016, Apple still missed its target sales. ARS Technica stated that the sales decline might be due to the iPhone 6s' failure to achieve the iPhone 6 success. The iPhone SE’s low price than that of an average iPhone was also found to be a reason for the drop in sales.
“Our 2016 performance with respect to net sales and operating income was 7.7% and 15.7% below our record-breaking 2015 levels; however, the 2016 payouts to our named executive officers were significantly less than the annual cash incentive payouts for 2015, reflecting strong pay-for-performance alignment,” Apple said, as reported by The Guardian.
With that, Tim Cook and six executives miss out little of their pay. The six executives included CFO Luca Maestri, Retail SVP Angela Ahrendts, Internet Software and Services SVP Eddy Cue, Hardware Engineering SVP Dan Riccio, and General Counsel Bruce Sewell. They only received 89.5 percent of their incentive-based pay compared to their 2015 salary.
Apple expected that during the past holiday season, sales increase would occur as it counts on consumers to buy the iPhone 7 and 7 plus. The results that would include their revenue for the season would be released this month, as reported by LA Times.
