In 2025, Hollywood Reporter’s headline reported “Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Pay Rises to $74.6M.” That’s an impressive amount for anyone to make, much less in one year. But did he really take home that much money? It’s not that simple. That $74.6M is not in cash nor necessarily stocks or even available right now.
Back to the Basics
When we’re presented with a big claim like that Hollywood Reporter article, Aspire Research likes to go back to the basics – we look at Apple’s Proxy Statement or DEF 14A put out by Apple. Since Apple is a public company, the company is required to file financial statements on a regular basis that can be examined in the public. You can find it for free on the US. Securities and Exchange Commission website EDGAR or pay for more user-friendly and comprehensive software like KALEDISCOPE.
That’s going to be a great place to find out exactly what that $74.6M compensation is actually made up of.
The first place we look at is the Summary Compensation Table and focus on the year 2024.
Already we can see where the Hollywood Reporter got the $74.6M number. It’s right there in the Summary Compensation table.
Look at the Footnotes
But that’s not all there is. There are some footnotes that you should take notice of. If you look at the footnote for Stock Awards, it looks like $50M was a long-term equity award.
A long-term equity award is an award of equity, in the form of stock options or restricted stock units, that is meant to motivate executives and other insiders to reach long-term goals.
Digging deeper into the proxy statement, we find out that 75% of that long-term equity is performance based and 25% is time-based. In other words, 50% of that $50M is tied to performance of the entire company; if Apple does well, so will Tim Cook. The other 50% or $25M is for retention, a way to encourage Cook to stick around at the company to receive that award.
The next footnote is for “Non-equity Incentive Plan Compensation,” which explains that it is a cash-based reward, as opposed to equity award. It’s a short-term incentive for performance. Since Apple did well in 2024, he received this cash incentive of $12M.
Finally, there are two footnotes for All Other Compensation. In the first footnote, it explains that the other compensation includes Apple’s contributions to his 401(K) plan, term life insurance premiums, vacation cash-out, security expenses, personal air travel expenses. (The fourth footnote just notes that these matching contributions from Apple are available to all Apple employees.)
So yes, Tim Cook may have received $74.6M in compensation, but it’s not cash in hand. It includes short- and long-term incentives as well as other payments to life insurance, security, etc.
Why do we care?
Since we are fundraisers, we are interested in the intersection of wealth and philanthropy. When he receives this cash and stock compensation it will impact his tax liability and his sense of wealth. It may have an impact on the size and kind of philanthropic gift he potentially could give. So it’s a good thing to keep in mind should you get in front of Tim Cook for your organization!
So next time, you see a headline that says that CEO Jane Smith made $500M in the past fiscal year, you might want to take a deeper look behind those numbers.
Workshops
Want to learn more about insiders and the stock market? Consider signing up for the Prospect Research Institute’s workshop series:
- February 13: Introduction to Public Companies – Available as a playback
- March 13: The Inside Scoop on Insider Pay
- April 10: Communicating Insider Wealth
- Or buy a bundle of all three! Public Company Insider Wealth 101
Sources
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Pay Rises to $74.6M l Hollywood Reporter, 2025
Search Filings l U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
SEC & SEDAR Research l KALEDISCOPE
Why Insiders l Aspire Research Major Gifts Insights Blog 2025
About the Author
Elisa Shoenberger has written about philanthropy for Inside Philanthropy, Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Daily Dot, Brainfacts.org and others. She has spoken at several fundraising conferences for both international and local chapters of APRA and others. She has published with the Boston Globe, Wired, Slate, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and many others. She has written In Good Company: A Guide to Corporate Fundraising (2021); Disruptive Philanthropy: A Guide to Donor Advised Funds (2022); Volatile Opportunity: A Guide to Cryptocurrency and Fundraising (2023).