Apple CEO Tim Cook's compensation jumped 6-fold in 2011

Computerworld - Apple CEO Tim Cook's total compensation package jumped six-fold last year after he took the reins of the Cupertino, Calif. company, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.

For 2011, Cook's compensation totaled nearly $378 million, or more than six times the $59 million awarded the year before, Apple's proxy statement noted (download PDF).

The bulk of Cook's package -- $376.2 million -- consisted of stock grants given by the board of directors last August, when they promoted Cook to the CEO spot on the same day former CEO Steve Jobs stepped down.

Half of the 1 million "restricted stock units," or RSUs, will be awarded to Cook in August 2016 if he is still with Apple, while the second half will be given to him in August 2021, again only if he is still employed by the company.

At Monday's closing price, the 1 million share would be worth almost $423 million. SEC rules, however, base the grants' value on the stock price the day they are awarded, which resulted in the proxy statement listing the lower $376 million.

Cook earned $900,000 in salary in 2011, or $100,000 more than in 2010. Last November, Apple boosted Cook's salary to $1.4 million for the coming year. Jobs, who died Oct. 5, 2011, was famous for taking an annual salary of just $1.

Cook, 51, has been with Apple since 1998. Prior to stepping into the CEO position, Cook was Apple's chief operating officer, and had run the company on a day-to-day basis during Jobs' multiple medical leaves of absence in the years leading up to his death.

His 2011 compensation package dwarfed that of other technology CEOs, such as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, who earned $1.3 million in salary and bonuses in the company's 2011 fiscal year.

Other top-level Apple executives received far less last year than Cook: Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer; Scott Forstall, who heads iOS software development; and Ronald Johnson, the former chief of Apple's retail group who left the company last year to become CEO of JC Penny, all received $1.4 million in compensation during 2011.

Last November, Apple awarded grants of 150,000 shares each to Oppenheimer, general counsel Bruce Sewell and senior vice presidents Forstall, Philip Schiller, Bob Mansfield and Jeffrey Williams. The RSUs vest in March 2016 if the executives are still working at Apple.

While Cook cannot cash in on last year's RSUs until 2016 at the earliest, grants awarded him in 2008 and 2010 are slated to vest in March, Apple said. At yesterday's closing price, the 162,000 shares would be worth approximately $68 million.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

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