Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout(bbc.com)
bbc.com
Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58352098
359 comments
> which he has essentially 10x'd the value of in his tenure
Think there might have been one or two other people involved in that. Maybe even a few more than that.
Think there might have been one or two other people involved in that. Maybe even a few more than that.
And a lot of those people would have also had stock based compensation.
I think you can say that about anyone who makes anything based on work from anyone else. While it's important to recognise those others (as those at Apple with stock based compensation have been), I don't think it nullifies the point because they didn't do all the work themselves.
In what possible world could Tim Cook personally have done anything worth $75m, let alone $750m? How can any single human being create value at that scale? I don't understand the apologia for what is, on its face, a massively skewed system of compensation completely unrelated to any possible basis in reality.
It’s amusing that earlier this week HN was arguing that devs don’t get payed for the impact/value they generate (justifying low pentest bounties). And now the argument is the opposite for C-suite.
IIRC many academics have studied ceo comp and found it outsized any evidence based justification of influence (such as compared to if a lower payed ceo was at reigns).
IIRC many academics have studied ceo comp and found it outsized any evidence based justification of influence (such as compared to if a lower payed ceo was at reigns).
Leverage. The company is sufficiently large that one person's decision can easily have multi-billion dollar consequences. $750m isn't really that big relative to the consequences of his decision making.
Besides, the beautiful thing is that it's the people whose money is on the line that are deciding to pay him so much money. If they thought he wasn't worth a lot of money, then they would have got rid of him.
Besides, the beautiful thing is that it's the people whose money is on the line that are deciding to pay him so much money. If they thought he wasn't worth a lot of money, then they would have got rid of him.
The nature of leadership is that your decisions are highly leveraged, and have huge impact.
I think every single day he makes decisions which could destroy $750m or create $750m. He could wipe billions with a bad tweet. If they greenlight (or cancel) a product that increases revenue 0.1% and that single decision could make (or loose) the company billions.
If a board thinks a CEO will get 0.1% better returns than the next best option, that is worth billions of compensation.
I think every single day he makes decisions which could destroy $750m or create $750m. He could wipe billions with a bad tweet. If they greenlight (or cancel) a product that increases revenue 0.1% and that single decision could make (or loose) the company billions.
If a board thinks a CEO will get 0.1% better returns than the next best option, that is worth billions of compensation.
That’s not really relevant. The relevant reality is that he has a contract that awards him X if he achieves Y. He achieved Y so he gets X. Whether it’s justified is a matter for the shareholders and the board.
We are not talking about the terms of a contract here. We are talking about a post that credits him with this achievement, and him alone.
In your opinion, can a bit better CEO (not outrageously better, just somewhat better than the other guy/gal with a bit brighter long-term strategy and a bit different focus for the subordinate top managers) personally make a 1% total difference in company growth across ten years?
If you don't accept that, then I'll just have to disagree based on how I've seen companies are managed, IMHO personalities matter at least that much. But if you do accept that, then that obviously means that a single human being can create value at that scale, as 1% impact on Apple's growth over 10 years would be something like $20 billion. Being in positions with extremely high leverage means that your decisions have extremely high impact on value. Of course, there are also opposite examples of CEOs who have personally destroyed billions of value through their decisions.
If you don't accept that, then I'll just have to disagree based on how I've seen companies are managed, IMHO personalities matter at least that much. But if you do accept that, then that obviously means that a single human being can create value at that scale, as 1% impact on Apple's growth over 10 years would be something like $20 billion. Being in positions with extremely high leverage means that your decisions have extremely high impact on value. Of course, there are also opposite examples of CEOs who have personally destroyed billions of value through their decisions.
One person absolutely can not do that. Only a big team of people can do that.
One person will be leading the team. That does not mean that it is they who creates that impact.
One person will be leading the team. That does not mean that it is they who creates that impact.
Even at small scales, picking the people on the team and altering their priorities have an immense team on the team's results, it can easily double or halve it, so the impact of these decisions is literally on the same scale as the all the individual contributions of those team members together.
Sort of like how Michael Jordan's teammates helped him in the Bulls. But you would be a damn fool to not pay him to ensure that he doesn't go anywhere.
So many sour comments. When Tim Cook took the place of the legendary you know who, every reviewers is worried about Apple's future, and Tim's not doing a so bad job after all. Most of his investments paid off, and Apple's performance has remained stable and has grown.
Tim deserves credit for running such an successful operation. Do you really think those running-up phone makers aren't looking for someone like Tim? The competition in the phone market is real.
Although we could also argue Tim failed in a way with the rise of Huawei and Xiaomi where we had to block the competitors via 'national security' concerns.
Tim deserves credit for running such an successful operation. Do you really think those running-up phone makers aren't looking for someone like Tim? The competition in the phone market is real.
Although we could also argue Tim failed in a way with the rise of Huawei and Xiaomi where we had to block the competitors via 'national security' concerns.
IMO: he’s doing an awful job. His mismanagement of iOS will result in regulation that forces them to give up the abuses which made it (and by extension Apple) so profitable.
From the article :
"In 2015, Mr Cook said he would give away his entire fortune before he dies, and is known to have donated tens of millions of dollars to charity".
Success during one's life , paying it back to make the society a better place once gone. Take a bow, Mr Cook. What more can one ask for in a lifetime :)
Success during one's life , paying it back to make the society a better place once gone. Take a bow, Mr Cook. What more can one ask for in a lifetime :)
And during his lifetime, this money is locked away, only accessible by him, taken out of circulation and thereby not adding any worth against ever-growing inequality, supporting economic prosperity or tax-funded investments.
This is just once again a case of philanthropic green-washing of what should be actually simply heavily taxed.
This is just once again a case of philanthropic green-washing of what should be actually simply heavily taxed.
That’s not how checking accounts, savings accounts, or shares of stock work. It’s only how physical dollars in your wallet work.
I think this is an important insight, but not without challenges. One could argue that stocks in the secondary market work like a wallet. Funds from additional offerings do go on a company ledger and get spent, but in investor to investor sale, the profits are mostly reinvested in other stock. Money leaves the market when it is diversified into other investment classes, or when investors spend profits outside the market, or gains are taxed.
Taken out of circulation? The money will surely be invested into the economy where it will very much fund (profit motivated) initiatives.
> This is just once again a case of philanthropic green-washing of what should be actually simply heavily taxed.
Not being snarky but heavily taxed and then what? Expect the government to make the best decision on how to spend money?
Not being snarky but heavily taxed and then what? Expect the government to make the best decision on how to spend money?
Yes. I guess you want to live in a world where taxes are optional and we hope people like Tim Cook would charitably repair failing bridges and provide healthcare to communities.
I think if we go heavy handed against wealth inequality then we should also legislate conservative spending by governments. This money can’t go to the fund next Afghanistan or to Israel to fund another settlement. It has to go to simple but surely-helpful efforts like: feeding the poor, improving education, and building infrastructure.
Both improving education and building infrastructure, as they are actually practiced, are not "simple" and questionably "surely-helpful". See also bridges to nowhere and schools with top-of-the-line computers but broken heating/cooling systems.
Just throwing money at things does not mean it gets used to actually improve them, unfortunately... The question is when you have gotten to diminishing, or negative, returns.
Just throwing money at things does not mean it gets used to actually improve them, unfortunately... The question is when you have gotten to diminishing, or negative, returns.
So what’s the alternative? If you are unwilling to build schools for the poor. If you are unwilling to build water cleaning stations for the poor. If you are unwilling to build them libraries and parks. Then you are basically willing to let them live as third class citizens. We need to recognize this.
In my opinion the whole “throwing money at the problem is not a solution” excuse is not enough to justify maintaining status quo. Yes, I agree, governments are the worst at efficient spending. Wasted money. Unjustified spending. Corruption. Nonetheless, we have a problem that must be solved.
If the wealthy have a better idea that involves no money being spent — great. But let’s not pretend like the human cost is going to go on pause while we debate this. Impoverished children will continue to live and grow in environments that do not help them to break out of poverty. What is worse is that the odds are getting worse for them because disparities are getting larger.
In my opinion the whole “throwing money at the problem is not a solution” excuse is not enough to justify maintaining status quo. Yes, I agree, governments are the worst at efficient spending. Wasted money. Unjustified spending. Corruption. Nonetheless, we have a problem that must be solved.
If the wealthy have a better idea that involves no money being spent — great. But let’s not pretend like the human cost is going to go on pause while we debate this. Impoverished children will continue to live and grow in environments that do not help them to break out of poverty. What is worse is that the odds are getting worse for them because disparities are getting larger.
> So what’s the alternative?
To which?
I think we should encourage/require government spending on things that are actually useful (and I acknowledge that there is wide-ranging disagreement on this criterion) and fund such spending adequately.
At the same time we need to have reasonable accountability for governments doing stupid things with money, notice when it's happening, and make it stop, redirecting those funds to something productive. Whether that happens via lower government revenues or reallocated government spending depends on whether there is something productive the government can spend the money on.
The things that you list, and many you don't (quality schools, both physical plant and teacher quality, libraries, parks, clean water, free school lunches, free preventative medical care, etc, etc ) generally pass the "is productive" smell test until proven otherwise; the burden of proof there should be on critics to prove that the investment is not being done in a useful way. That said, once that burden of proof is met, action needs to take place to remedy that.
> In my opinion the whole “throwing money at the problem is not a solution” excuse
You're putting words in my mouth here. For a lot of these things, throwing money at them is a _necessary_ but not _sufficient_ condition for having a solution. If you don't fund your schools adequately they will be bad, but if you just throw money at them and it gets misused in ways that don't advance learning they will also be bad. The whole "there's a whole warehouse of unused computers in that school district" thing is not _common_, but it's also not unknown when it happens it's really bad and needs to be fixed. Both in terms of the immediate problem and the bad incentives that led to it.
So just saying "allocate money to this" is not the end of the road. You have to then make sure the money gets used sanely.
To which?
I think we should encourage/require government spending on things that are actually useful (and I acknowledge that there is wide-ranging disagreement on this criterion) and fund such spending adequately.
At the same time we need to have reasonable accountability for governments doing stupid things with money, notice when it's happening, and make it stop, redirecting those funds to something productive. Whether that happens via lower government revenues or reallocated government spending depends on whether there is something productive the government can spend the money on.
The things that you list, and many you don't (quality schools, both physical plant and teacher quality, libraries, parks, clean water, free school lunches, free preventative medical care, etc, etc ) generally pass the "is productive" smell test until proven otherwise; the burden of proof there should be on critics to prove that the investment is not being done in a useful way. That said, once that burden of proof is met, action needs to take place to remedy that.
> In my opinion the whole “throwing money at the problem is not a solution” excuse
You're putting words in my mouth here. For a lot of these things, throwing money at them is a _necessary_ but not _sufficient_ condition for having a solution. If you don't fund your schools adequately they will be bad, but if you just throw money at them and it gets misused in ways that don't advance learning they will also be bad. The whole "there's a whole warehouse of unused computers in that school district" thing is not _common_, but it's also not unknown when it happens it's really bad and needs to be fixed. Both in terms of the immediate problem and the bad incentives that led to it.
So just saying "allocate money to this" is not the end of the road. You have to then make sure the money gets used sanely.
[deleted]
The solution is Zakat. Look it up.
Lol, you think the money is any less locked in Apple’s coffers?
At least there is a chance it goes somewhere good now.
At least there is a chance it goes somewhere good now.
Since these are stock awards, the money really comes from old and new Apple shareholders, not the company itself.
When the stock award was granted, existing shareholders agreed to dilute their holdings by allowing the company to issue new shares to Cook. And when Cook sells this newly issued stock for cash, the money comes from new shareholders who want a slice of Apple (or existing shareholders buying more, thus paying cash for the shares they themselves gave to Cook).
When the stock award was granted, existing shareholders agreed to dilute their holdings by allowing the company to issue new shares to Cook. And when Cook sells this newly issued stock for cash, the money comes from new shareholders who want a slice of Apple (or existing shareholders buying more, thus paying cash for the shares they themselves gave to Cook).
Yeah?
If people have money to spend on Apple stock they clearly don’t need it to survive.
If people have money to spend on Apple stock they clearly don’t need it to survive.
Who said anything about that? I wanted to clarify that the money Cook is receiving isn’t paid out of Apple’s cash reserves.
Although the question you raise is an interesting one in the sense that many buyers of Apple stock are indirectly depending on it to make a living after they’ve stopped working. For a blue chip giant like Apple, many of the buyers are index funds and pensions where the ultimate beneficiaries are retirees. They literally are buying Apple stock to survive, although through intermediaries.
Although the question you raise is an interesting one in the sense that many buyers of Apple stock are indirectly depending on it to make a living after they’ve stopped working. For a blue chip giant like Apple, many of the buyers are index funds and pensions where the ultimate beneficiaries are retirees. They literally are buying Apple stock to survive, although through intermediaries.
He is already making society a better place by making products and services that people value. Charity isn't the only option for that.
Just like the Sineloa Cartel! People would die to get their hands in their product.
He is only making society better if the value he is creating is larger than the value he is extracting.
You can build a regular home, get paid $5 million for it, the net act was probably negative for the system.
It's the same for companies turning profits: it's entirely possible to make profits in a system while actually shrinking the overall pie. This is common when certain activities are externalized (i.e. pollution).
Capitalism, broadly, does create a bigger pie, but it's a very uneven process and the true value creation doesn't always happen where the value is created. Value capture happens where the power is.
You can build a regular home, get paid $5 million for it, the net act was probably negative for the system.
It's the same for companies turning profits: it's entirely possible to make profits in a system while actually shrinking the overall pie. This is common when certain activities are externalized (i.e. pollution).
Capitalism, broadly, does create a bigger pie, but it's a very uneven process and the true value creation doesn't always happen where the value is created. Value capture happens where the power is.
Rich people spend money on charities they like. They change society the way they want it to change that does not necessarily make society a better place nor is it necessarily what most people want.
If he had to pay all of this on taxes, society could decide how to use that money and it would be just as much, if not more "a better place".
If he had to pay all of this on taxes, society could decide how to use that money and it would be just as much, if not more "a better place".
Why does everyone think that they know better how to spend other people's money than the people who have earned it?
Somehow the people who didn't have the intelligence and discipline to spend decades successfully doing things that make them rich are so sure that they would be able to do better with their (totally hypothetical) wealth than the people who did.
Everyone loves to claim some kind of moral superiority over the billionaires, but I don't see these critics spending a significant portion of their wealth on charity.
Somehow the people who didn't have the intelligence and discipline to spend decades successfully doing things that make them rich are so sure that they would be able to do better with their (totally hypothetical) wealth than the people who did.
Everyone loves to claim some kind of moral superiority over the billionaires, but I don't see these critics spending a significant portion of their wealth on charity.
Why does everyone think that the person receiving money knows how to spend it better than any other person?
Notice I didn't say "earned" because the entire premise of some is that one cannot morally "earn" a billion dollars - that something is fundamentally broken in our society when wealth can become so centralized.
Some people make fun of the idea that government is a decent decisionmaker for spending money on society, whenever raising taxes on the wealthy comes up. Where do you draw the line? Do you think they currently are taxed perfectly? Do you think no one should be taxed? How would the infrastructure these companies relied on get funded?
Oh, I see you committed another trope of comparing the earnings of anyone on this thread (and about 95% of the country) to a billionaire. The floor for living comfortably, or even somewhat luxuriously, is a much higher proportion of the wages of a middle class household than it is for a billionaire. I make 0.02% annually of just this bonus. Don't you think that makes a difference in the equation?
Notice I didn't say "earned" because the entire premise of some is that one cannot morally "earn" a billion dollars - that something is fundamentally broken in our society when wealth can become so centralized.
Some people make fun of the idea that government is a decent decisionmaker for spending money on society, whenever raising taxes on the wealthy comes up. Where do you draw the line? Do you think they currently are taxed perfectly? Do you think no one should be taxed? How would the infrastructure these companies relied on get funded?
Oh, I see you committed another trope of comparing the earnings of anyone on this thread (and about 95% of the country) to a billionaire. The floor for living comfortably, or even somewhat luxuriously, is a much higher proportion of the wages of a middle class household than it is for a billionaire. I make 0.02% annually of just this bonus. Don't you think that makes a difference in the equation?
I don’t ones a ability to make money is even vaguely correlated with once ability to spend well for the benefit of society.
Hell the whole reason why democracy is thing is because monarchies of yesteryear have proven quite decisively that the ability to raise capital and spend well for society are not even remotely linked.
We need to consider very carefully as a society what the impact of the billionaire class has on how our society develops, and the outsized impacts they can have on democratic processes.
Personally I don’t think having such wealthy individuals is a good idea. Their wealth is so great it’s pretty much impossible for them not to get wealthier, and do it at a rate greater than than the vast majority of people. And their ability to deploy that capital to influence society is scary, effectively taking the role of government to provide social services, and placing it in the hands of a wealth few.
We’ve already seen what more extreme individuals are prepared to do with that power, just a Hobbylobby and David Green’s continued vendetta against abortions and safe contraceptives.
Hell the whole reason why democracy is thing is because monarchies of yesteryear have proven quite decisively that the ability to raise capital and spend well for society are not even remotely linked.
We need to consider very carefully as a society what the impact of the billionaire class has on how our society develops, and the outsized impacts they can have on democratic processes.
Personally I don’t think having such wealthy individuals is a good idea. Their wealth is so great it’s pretty much impossible for them not to get wealthier, and do it at a rate greater than than the vast majority of people. And their ability to deploy that capital to influence society is scary, effectively taking the role of government to provide social services, and placing it in the hands of a wealth few.
We’ve already seen what more extreme individuals are prepared to do with that power, just a Hobbylobby and David Green’s continued vendetta against abortions and safe contraceptives.
The alternative to a billionaire deciding how to spend the money they have earned is a politician deciding to spend the money they didn't earn.
I trust a person who has generated billions of dollars worth of value over a buerocrat who won a popularity contest.
Besides, I don't think it should matter whether or not these people spend their money optimally. They've made this money, it's theirs. Don't take other people's stuff.
> We’ve already seen what more extreme individuals are prepared to do with that power.
Until we leave in a featureless dystopia where all people are perfect clones brought up in an identical environment, there will be power disparity between people. It can be based on inheritance (like in monarchies), or ability to commit violence, or charisma, or political skill, or ability to create value.
Between all these options, I'd much rather live in society where people get to keep the value they have created. It seems to me the most correlated with merit (not perfectly, but better than the alternatives), besides, it is morally right.
I trust a person who has generated billions of dollars worth of value over a buerocrat who won a popularity contest.
Besides, I don't think it should matter whether or not these people spend their money optimally. They've made this money, it's theirs. Don't take other people's stuff.
> We’ve already seen what more extreme individuals are prepared to do with that power.
Until we leave in a featureless dystopia where all people are perfect clones brought up in an identical environment, there will be power disparity between people. It can be based on inheritance (like in monarchies), or ability to commit violence, or charisma, or political skill, or ability to create value.
Between all these options, I'd much rather live in society where people get to keep the value they have created. It seems to me the most correlated with merit (not perfectly, but better than the alternatives), besides, it is morally right.
Eh, call me old fashioned, but I like to vote for the people who have significant influence over the society I live in.
Politicians may not be perfect, but they’re much easier to hold to account that high net worth individuals. I personally consider that a killer feature when picking my power brokers.
We already take others people stuff for the public good. It’s called taxes. That money built the roads you use everyday and props up the society you live in by helping to ensure that everyone gets a decent quality of life.
Simple fact of the matter is that no individual has any practical use for wealth measured in billions. It’s wealth that could be better put to use help the poorest in society, and helping us navigate the next hundred years of climate change and associated social unrest.
Politicians may not be perfect, but they’re much easier to hold to account that high net worth individuals. I personally consider that a killer feature when picking my power brokers.
We already take others people stuff for the public good. It’s called taxes. That money built the roads you use everyday and props up the society you live in by helping to ensure that everyone gets a decent quality of life.
Simple fact of the matter is that no individual has any practical use for wealth measured in billions. It’s wealth that could be better put to use help the poorest in society, and helping us navigate the next hundred years of climate change and associated social unrest.
See, you keep saying "value they created" rather than "value they extracted from others in society".
Why this criticism? Is HIV research not a good enough cause for you? Much better than a 10 billion dollar airport or 15 billion dollar Olympics in my opinion.
There’s no guarantee that Tim’s going to use his money for “good” causes, we’re entirely dependent on his good will.
He may go down the evangelical Christian path and fund a war of sex, abortions, gays, trans and people’s reproductive rights. That’s not even a hypothetical outcome, there’s plenty of millionaires and billionaires (like David Green) already funding that war.
He may go down the evangelical Christian path and fund a war of sex, abortions, gays, trans and people’s reproductive rights. That’s not even a hypothetical outcome, there’s plenty of millionaires and billionaires (like David Green) already funding that war.
Tim funding a war on "gays" would be .... very surprising.
But also, there's no guarantee that _anyone_ including the government will use money for "good" causes. Bridges to nowhere, military adventurism, wars on drugs, personal enrichment of politicians and government employees, vanity projects of various sorts, the list of things governments mis-spend on is vast.
And of course we don't all agree on the relative merits of different causes.
But also, there's no guarantee that _anyone_ including the government will use money for "good" causes. Bridges to nowhere, military adventurism, wars on drugs, personal enrichment of politicians and government employees, vanity projects of various sorts, the list of things governments mis-spend on is vast.
And of course we don't all agree on the relative merits of different causes.
True, but at least you can vote a government out of power. Same can’t be said for billionaires.
The practical distinction is often not there except for things that are so egregious there is a good chance billionaires would be crossing the boundaries of legality for doing them. But yes, government does have a slight edge on billionaires for accountability, I agree.
Society had already decided how to use that money when it's members were buying Apple products.
What is the point of grabbing surpluses and then handing them back?
Re: the note above about Foxconn workers, Cooks money comes from the market power developed by Apple which they can leverage on everyone in the system, consumers, workers, suppliers, distributors etc..
So he can leverage against Foxconn workers and then give $1B to charity - or he could not leverage, and double Foxconn workers wages. And that's just his comp, not everything else.
Now - maybe there is a theoretical greater efficiency in his charity work, and of course it's spent on 'his interests' not others, etc..
But the notion of 'giving it away' doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless that giving is frankly more effective than otherwise.
I think Gates Foundation for example is reasonable - a lot of philanthropy is effective in ways that governments and regular private corps are not - that makes sense.
But from a purely charitable perspective, it does seem a little bit odd to accumulate in one column on the ledger in order to put it back in the other column.
Re: the note above about Foxconn workers, Cooks money comes from the market power developed by Apple which they can leverage on everyone in the system, consumers, workers, suppliers, distributors etc..
So he can leverage against Foxconn workers and then give $1B to charity - or he could not leverage, and double Foxconn workers wages. And that's just his comp, not everything else.
Now - maybe there is a theoretical greater efficiency in his charity work, and of course it's spent on 'his interests' not others, etc..
But the notion of 'giving it away' doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless that giving is frankly more effective than otherwise.
I think Gates Foundation for example is reasonable - a lot of philanthropy is effective in ways that governments and regular private corps are not - that makes sense.
But from a purely charitable perspective, it does seem a little bit odd to accumulate in one column on the ledger in order to put it back in the other column.
Why not just pay taxes instead? That's literally paying it back to society.
To fund wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or some other country?
He's got no kids so, where else would it go?
This actually seems like a totally appropriate reward for 10x’ing the value of the company.
Compared to the total value of the company, if anything it seems small.
Compared to the total value of the company, if anything it seems small.
In unrelated news, Apple Stock went down a sharp 11% when the company announced that it would hand out $750M to workers at its factories.
Given that Apple's stock price is up about $2.2 trillion since the award it doesn't seem to out of place for him to capture 0.034% of that value.
Probably interesting in relation to the app developer settlement, where Apple set up a fund of $100m to support small US app developers.
> In 2015, Mr Cook said he would give away his entire fortune before he dies, and is known to have donated tens of millions of dollars to charity.
I'm normally a proponent of reducing income inequality. But this has got me thinking. Is the world actively better off when billionaires like Cook/Gates/Buffett make a ton of money.
Consider the alternative: someone in the 75th percentile of USA income gets a fat raise. Most of this money is spent on a nicer house, a nicer car, eating out, going on vacation, etc. Contrast this against a billionaire who has signed the giving pledge. They spend a small fraction of this money on themselves. And the majority ends up going to charitable causes such as educational initiatives, HIV research, deworming, clean drinking water, etc.
Ironically, big payouts (and tax breaks) for billionaires* would do more to help the needy, compared to raises for the upper-middle-class.
*This only applies to those billionaires who have committed to donating most of their wealth of course
I'm normally a proponent of reducing income inequality. But this has got me thinking. Is the world actively better off when billionaires like Cook/Gates/Buffett make a ton of money.
Consider the alternative: someone in the 75th percentile of USA income gets a fat raise. Most of this money is spent on a nicer house, a nicer car, eating out, going on vacation, etc. Contrast this against a billionaire who has signed the giving pledge. They spend a small fraction of this money on themselves. And the majority ends up going to charitable causes such as educational initiatives, HIV research, deworming, clean drinking water, etc.
Ironically, big payouts (and tax breaks) for billionaires* would do more to help the needy, compared to raises for the upper-middle-class.
*This only applies to those billionaires who have committed to donating most of their wealth of course
"If every person used their resources for the best of society, the world would be a better place!"
Sure thing.
The problem is, many of those people also burn money for yachts and spaceships.
Plus, to me all this charity stuff seems like a buyout. Gates basically made the world a worse place, before he started to make it better.
Sure thing.
The problem is, many of those people also burn money for yachts and spaceships.
Plus, to me all this charity stuff seems like a buyout. Gates basically made the world a worse place, before he started to make it better.
> The problem is, many of those people also burn money for yachts and spaceships.
Sure, but upper-middle-class people also burn money on upscale housing/food/travel etc. The main difference is that billionaires who've signed the giving pledge give a much larger fraction of their income and wealth to causes that help the needy.
Also, it seems odd to lump together spaceships with yachts. When anti-intellectuals attack government funding for NASA, we're the first to defend NASA and all the beneficial progress that comes out of funding cutting edge engineering projects. It's disingenuous to then attack people like Bezos when they do the same thing with their own money.
> Plus, to me all this charity stuff seems like a buyout. Gates basically made the world a worse place, before he started to make it better.
Maybe. I'm certainly not saying that billionaires should be given tax breaks because of their virtuous character. Just pointing out that the needy might ironically be best served by a billionaire tax cut.
Sure, but upper-middle-class people also burn money on upscale housing/food/travel etc. The main difference is that billionaires who've signed the giving pledge give a much larger fraction of their income and wealth to causes that help the needy.
Also, it seems odd to lump together spaceships with yachts. When anti-intellectuals attack government funding for NASA, we're the first to defend NASA and all the beneficial progress that comes out of funding cutting edge engineering projects. It's disingenuous to then attack people like Bezos when they do the same thing with their own money.
> Plus, to me all this charity stuff seems like a buyout. Gates basically made the world a worse place, before he started to make it better.
Maybe. I'm certainly not saying that billionaires should be given tax breaks because of their virtuous character. Just pointing out that the needy might ironically be best served by a billionaire tax cut.
And then Gates fought against dropping COVID vaccine patent protection for months. Old habits die hard, I guess.
The COVID vaccine patent protections were not constraining vaccine supply, because they were being licensed to anyone with the capacity to produce the vaccines anyway.
It sure did make for good grandstanding to speak out against the patents and pretend like getting rid of them would change anything about vaccine availability in practice, though, and lots of people jumped up on that grandstand.
So given that dropping the patent protections would not actually help produce more vaccines and given the questions about long-run effects on drug research, opposing the people trying to score easy political points at the expense of actually doing something useful does not seem like a bad choice to me.
It sure did make for good grandstanding to speak out against the patents and pretend like getting rid of them would change anything about vaccine availability in practice, though, and lots of people jumped up on that grandstand.
So given that dropping the patent protections would not actually help produce more vaccines and given the questions about long-run effects on drug research, opposing the people trying to score easy political points at the expense of actually doing something useful does not seem like a bad choice to me.
The world can end up better off in certain cases of one person controlling huge amounts of resources rather than collectively deciding what to do with them.
But if you think that's always going to be the case, why bother having democracies then? We can return to the tradition of noblesse oblige and let kings and lords take all the products of everyone else's labor and just hope that they'll feel sufficiently obligated to be kind and charitable to the rest of us. There are plenty of people who believe this, so you won't be alone, and I'm sure others will argue we're better off now that the men being rewarded by being allowed to own everything got there by being good at product design and regulatory capture rather than past centuries when they were good at raising armies and taking land from other people.
But if you think that's always going to be the case, why bother having democracies then? We can return to the tradition of noblesse oblige and let kings and lords take all the products of everyone else's labor and just hope that they'll feel sufficiently obligated to be kind and charitable to the rest of us. There are plenty of people who believe this, so you won't be alone, and I'm sure others will argue we're better off now that the men being rewarded by being allowed to own everything got there by being good at product design and regulatory capture rather than past centuries when they were good at raising armies and taking land from other people.
If you force them to donate it's now called a taxes and government fund research.
There’s nothing preventing “someone in the 75th percentile of USA income” from signing that pledge, is there?
Also, why would one assume billionaires are better at judging what’s good for society than, say, elected officials or people currently making peanuts working in Amazon warehouses?
One could argue that the bubble billionaires live in is further separated from society at large than that of those people.
Also, why would one assume billionaires are better at judging what’s good for society than, say, elected officials or people currently making peanuts working in Amazon warehouses?
One could argue that the bubble billionaires live in is further separated from society at large than that of those people.
Option A) The money is taxed and spent on HIV research.
Option B) He retires and (maybe) gives it to support HIV research.
So the question is, interest and efficiency.
It's possible in may situations for charitable giving to have greater efficiency, by leveraging the knowledge of the investor, directing the money towards really effective outcomes. Or not. Then there is the public interest.
Option C) Reduce the market power of monopolizing entities, in which case instead of gigantic profits accumulating in specific centres, you have workers, suppliers and consumers getting a better deal across the board i.e. Foxconn staff having more income, consumers getting better prices etc..
I like Option C.
I like Option B when there's effective leadership.
I like Option A when governments are really smart with their investment or redistribution.
Option B) He retires and (maybe) gives it to support HIV research.
So the question is, interest and efficiency.
It's possible in may situations for charitable giving to have greater efficiency, by leveraging the knowledge of the investor, directing the money towards really effective outcomes. Or not. Then there is the public interest.
Option C) Reduce the market power of monopolizing entities, in which case instead of gigantic profits accumulating in specific centres, you have workers, suppliers and consumers getting a better deal across the board i.e. Foxconn staff having more income, consumers getting better prices etc..
I like Option C.
I like Option B when there's effective leadership.
I like Option A when governments are really smart with their investment or redistribution.
Assuming they're telling the truth and will donate their fortunes you're then reliant on their whims as to what gets the money.
I see your point and I somewhat agree. But this is based on the assumption that only upper-middle-class engineers work for Apple.
However, the people in factories producing these products for Apple definitely deserve a raise. Income inequality should be fixed throughout the supply chain and not only benefit the upper-middle-class.
If the middle class don’t have money to spend, then that would create more needy people cuz there won’t be jobs. Be careful of trade offs
How did billionaires amass that much riches? How much environmental distrution, erosion of democracy and workers rights, and general negativity brought them up to this level? Giving back a few million to the community does not offset that.
When will the people understand, that if you force the equality, it'll result in mediocrity?
USSR has learned this lesson the hard way, so it is sad to see how many well-off Americans a rushing head first into it voluntarily?
Trust me, you won't like the results. You have a 200square meters house? Nobody needs that many space, and also there are so many homeless in Los Angeles. You take two rooms 24square meters each, and the rest of the house would be distributed among the needy.
Do you like this perspective? This was the first thing done when Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, I'm not kidding. All in the name of equality.
USSR has learned this lesson the hard way, so it is sad to see how many well-off Americans a rushing head first into it voluntarily?
Trust me, you won't like the results. You have a 200square meters house? Nobody needs that many space, and also there are so many homeless in Los Angeles. You take two rooms 24square meters each, and the rest of the house would be distributed among the needy.
Do you like this perspective? This was the first thing done when Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, I'm not kidding. All in the name of equality.
Is it possible to have a debate about CEO payout without the dumb comparisons with the Soviet Union?
Imperial Russia was an absolutist autocracy in theory for most of its history and in practice for all of it. Does being against despotism mean that I have to give a couple rooms from the property I don't own?
Imperial Russia was an absolutist autocracy in theory for most of its history and in practice for all of it. Does being against despotism mean that I have to give a couple rooms from the property I don't own?
No, because when you appeal to how unjust it is for CEO to be paid much more than workers from a factory, you are repeating the key piece of Bolshevik propaganda.
The necessity of separation between of church and state was also a key piece of Bolshevik propaganda.
Is it okay to say that it's unjust that a countries must be governed an absolute autocrat appointed by God?
Is it okay to say that it's unjust that a countries must be governed an absolute autocrat appointed by God?
There are cultural factors as well.
IIRC there are places (Japan?) where it had historically been considered more unseemly for CEOs to get paid so much more than everyone else below them. But there’s no law of nature that says low performance goes with that.
IIRC there are places (Japan?) where it had historically been considered more unseemly for CEOs to get paid so much more than everyone else below them. But there’s no law of nature that says low performance goes with that.
> This was the first thing done when Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, I'm not kidding. All in the name of equality.
You should see what some states have done in the name of freedom and democracy elsewhere
You should see what some states have done in the name of freedom and democracy elsewhere
So according to this 2018 article by The Verge [1], Foxconn workers producing iGadgets in China earn on average $390.16 per month.
Times that by twelve and we find that workers earn $4,681.92 per year on average.
If we divide Tim's $750,000,000 bonus/payout this year by that $4,681.92 yearly Foxconn salary, we get 160,190
My question is: how is Tim so productive that he does roughly 160,000 people’s work, or 1/8th of Foxconn’s total workforce? [2] /s
The contrast between working conditions is also interesting:
“The [Foxconn] factory has no medical facilities or hospital on site, so any injured workers have to be transported to a hospital that’s farther away. Another work hazard is the lack of fire safety: there are no exits or labeled escape routes and no fire safety drills. Similar to other factories that China Labor Watch has reported on, there’s no labor union for the Hengyang workers. There’s a process for filing complaints, but the workers don’t believe it does any good.”
Which seems quite a contrast to ‘Apple Park’ where Tim works.
What makes Apple treat Chinese workers so differently?
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/11/17448544/amazon-foxconn-w...
[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+foxconn+employees
Times that by twelve and we find that workers earn $4,681.92 per year on average.
If we divide Tim's $750,000,000 bonus/payout this year by that $4,681.92 yearly Foxconn salary, we get 160,190
My question is: how is Tim so productive that he does roughly 160,000 people’s work, or 1/8th of Foxconn’s total workforce? [2] /s
The contrast between working conditions is also interesting:
“The [Foxconn] factory has no medical facilities or hospital on site, so any injured workers have to be transported to a hospital that’s farther away. Another work hazard is the lack of fire safety: there are no exits or labeled escape routes and no fire safety drills. Similar to other factories that China Labor Watch has reported on, there’s no labor union for the Hengyang workers. There’s a process for filing complaints, but the workers don’t believe it does any good.”
Which seems quite a contrast to ‘Apple Park’ where Tim works.
What makes Apple treat Chinese workers so differently?
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/11/17448544/amazon-foxconn-w...
[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+foxconn+employees
When will we learn to stop making these silly calculations about "productivity" and understand that people are paid not by the value of their work, but by their scarcity?
Any factory in China can replace most of their 160k employees overnight if they wanted to. How many Tim Cook's do you have lying around?
Any factory in China can replace most of their 160k employees overnight if they wanted to. How many Tim Cook's do you have lying around?
There’s only one Tim Cook in the world. But, there’s also only one me in the world.
CEOs don’t get paid so much because they are personally unique. Every human is globally unique; it’s a consequence of how complex humans are.
CEOs have artificial scarcity because of the hierarchical structure of companies. By definition, there’s only one CEO of Apple.
Does that mean that ONLY Tim Cook, out of billions of humans, could have brought Apple to the success they have today? Try this thought exercise: if Tim had stayed at Compaq in 1997 instead of jumping to Apple, what are the chances that he would be CEO today of a Compaq worth $2 trillion?
“How much of Apple’s success is personally attributable to Tim Cook” is a perfectly valid question to ask. Unfortunately, answering it is extremely difficult; you’d need to rerun history for each alternate person. But the weight of a process doesn’t guarantee that it finds an optimum.
CEOs benefit from a human tendency to attribute systemic qualities to individual things or people. It’s the same reason we say a jacket “is warm” even though all it is doing is trapping the warmth that we created ourselves. We say a “successful CEO” instead of “the CEO of a successful company.”
Tim Cook makes incredibly consequential decisions every day. But the reason they are so consequential is mostly because he is the CEO of a huge company.
The negative effect of the current thinking on CEO “scarcity” is visible in the absurdly outsized personal rewards that the CEOs of successful companies get. But it’s even more visible in what happens to the CEOs of companies that are not successful. They still get absurd rewards! Adam Neumann also became a billionaire.
CEOs don’t get paid so much because they are personally unique. Every human is globally unique; it’s a consequence of how complex humans are.
CEOs have artificial scarcity because of the hierarchical structure of companies. By definition, there’s only one CEO of Apple.
Does that mean that ONLY Tim Cook, out of billions of humans, could have brought Apple to the success they have today? Try this thought exercise: if Tim had stayed at Compaq in 1997 instead of jumping to Apple, what are the chances that he would be CEO today of a Compaq worth $2 trillion?
“How much of Apple’s success is personally attributable to Tim Cook” is a perfectly valid question to ask. Unfortunately, answering it is extremely difficult; you’d need to rerun history for each alternate person. But the weight of a process doesn’t guarantee that it finds an optimum.
CEOs benefit from a human tendency to attribute systemic qualities to individual things or people. It’s the same reason we say a jacket “is warm” even though all it is doing is trapping the warmth that we created ourselves. We say a “successful CEO” instead of “the CEO of a successful company.”
Tim Cook makes incredibly consequential decisions every day. But the reason they are so consequential is mostly because he is the CEO of a huge company.
The negative effect of the current thinking on CEO “scarcity” is visible in the absurdly outsized personal rewards that the CEOs of successful companies get. But it’s even more visible in what happens to the CEOs of companies that are not successful. They still get absurd rewards! Adam Neumann also became a billionaire.
> CEOs don’t get paid so much because they are personally unique. [...] CEOs have artificial scarcity because of the hierarchical structure of companies.
They get paid proportional to the impact of their decisions, not in proportion to their scarcity, skill, etc.
If Apple must have someone to make decisions every day that could cost the company millions of dollars, what is the correct amount to compensate that person?
And if Apple were instead a $50M market cap company, would that amount change?
CEO compensation is a combination of "someone has to be in the chair" + "how important are our decisions?" + "how much can we afford to pay."
To reach back to the GP's gripe: if 1 (or even 160,000) assembly workers screw up at their job, it has a much lower impact on Apple as a whole.
They get paid proportional to the impact of their decisions, not in proportion to their scarcity, skill, etc.
If Apple must have someone to make decisions every day that could cost the company millions of dollars, what is the correct amount to compensate that person?
And if Apple were instead a $50M market cap company, would that amount change?
CEO compensation is a combination of "someone has to be in the chair" + "how important are our decisions?" + "how much can we afford to pay."
To reach back to the GP's gripe: if 1 (or even 160,000) assembly workers screw up at their job, it has a much lower impact on Apple as a whole.
Excellent explanation. Thanks for voicing it!
> How many Tim Cook's do you have lying around
Probably thousands? Just put a job ad for "Apple CEO" out there, set pay at a generous 10 million/year and I'm pretty sure you won't have issues finding qualified candidates.
I really don't think Apple's valuation would change much if Tim Cook is replaced, so I don't see what justifies such a large bonus.
Probably thousands? Just put a job ad for "Apple CEO" out there, set pay at a generous 10 million/year and I'm pretty sure you won't have issues finding qualified candidates.
I really don't think Apple's valuation would change much if Tim Cook is replaced, so I don't see what justifies such a large bonus.
I think this is ignoring the risks associated with such a change. You might find people qualified on paper, but you really don’t know how that translates into real world performance until you try it.
The risk of getting that wrong and accidentally destroying billions of dollars of shareholder value (don’t like the term, but it seems appropriate here) is very high (low likelihood, extremely high severity).
As a board member, why would you take that risk, when not taking the risk is so cheap? Ultimately I don’t think the risk weighted expected return on finding a cheaper CEO is greater than just paying Tim whatever number he pulls out of his arse. I suspect expected return is actually substantially lower (probably very negative) than what Tim gets paid.
The risk of getting that wrong and accidentally destroying billions of dollars of shareholder value (don’t like the term, but it seems appropriate here) is very high (low likelihood, extremely high severity).
As a board member, why would you take that risk, when not taking the risk is so cheap? Ultimately I don’t think the risk weighted expected return on finding a cheaper CEO is greater than just paying Tim whatever number he pulls out of his arse. I suspect expected return is actually substantially lower (probably very negative) than what Tim gets paid.
The risk is being taken primarily by the employees and the shareholders, but many of the rewards go to the CEO.
Boards of directors are scared of getting it wrong, and they memorialize that fear in contracts that throw tremendous amounts of money at their preferred candidate, often making guarantees regardless of performance.
But it’s not like boards have a spectacular record on picking CEOs in general. Well-regarded people blow it as CEO every year, but they still get tons of money. Why? Because of this deep belief that “CEO-quality” people are extremely rare, so every plausible candidate is incredibly precious.
To be fair, business boards are not unique in this failing. Professional sports teams fall into the same trap all the time.
Boards of directors are scared of getting it wrong, and they memorialize that fear in contracts that throw tremendous amounts of money at their preferred candidate, often making guarantees regardless of performance.
But it’s not like boards have a spectacular record on picking CEOs in general. Well-regarded people blow it as CEO every year, but they still get tons of money. Why? Because of this deep belief that “CEO-quality” people are extremely rare, so every plausible candidate is incredibly precious.
To be fair, business boards are not unique in this failing. Professional sports teams fall into the same trap all the time.
I perfectly accept that CEO pay in general is completely out-of-wack with anything anyone would consider reasonable, and agree that being paid $750mil is nuts.
What I take issue with is the idea that companies and boards are making irrational, or economically illiterate, decisions by paying CEO this amount. I just don’t think that argument stacks up.
As you say yourself boards don’t tend to be very good at picking executives, and may of them are probably aware of that. So why rock the boat when you’ve got a CEO who’s performing.
If you want to talk about the social consequences of CEO pay, that’s a different story. I would be quite happy to support the idea of CEO pay caps linked the lowest paid employee (I leave the question of what qualifies as an employee as an exercise for the reader). But I think that’s a very different argument to an economic argument.
What I take issue with is the idea that companies and boards are making irrational, or economically illiterate, decisions by paying CEO this amount. I just don’t think that argument stacks up.
As you say yourself boards don’t tend to be very good at picking executives, and may of them are probably aware of that. So why rock the boat when you’ve got a CEO who’s performing.
If you want to talk about the social consequences of CEO pay, that’s a different story. I would be quite happy to support the idea of CEO pay caps linked the lowest paid employee (I leave the question of what qualifies as an employee as an exercise for the reader). But I think that’s a very different argument to an economic argument.
>The risk of getting that wrong and accidentally destroying billions of dollars of shareholder value
Definitely happened for HP when they took on Leo
Definitely happened for HP when they took on Leo
And Yahoo.
> I really don't think Apple's valuation would change much if Tim Cook is replaced
Apple's current valuation is $2.49 trillion. A trillion is literally a million millions.
So that puts them at 2,490,000 millions. Due to meeting various goals, Tim Cook is getting 750 millions. That's ~0.03% of the company's valuation.
Apple's valuation wouldn't have to change very much before it would have been better to keep Cook in charge, even with higher compensation.
Apple's current valuation is $2.49 trillion. A trillion is literally a million millions.
So that puts them at 2,490,000 millions. Due to meeting various goals, Tim Cook is getting 750 millions. That's ~0.03% of the company's valuation.
Apple's valuation wouldn't have to change very much before it would have been better to keep Cook in charge, even with higher compensation.
Maybe, but how do you know who they are? Judging talent, especially executive talent at the outset is extremely hard.
It sure seems like whatever Tim Cook is doing is working. Remember when Apple went through three CEOs in a decade and nearly went bankrupt? Mismanagement of a company for even a few years can put a company in a tailspin for a decade. For a mature successful company Tim Cook is exactly what you want. Why mess with success?
It sure seems like whatever Tim Cook is doing is working. Remember when Apple went through three CEOs in a decade and nearly went bankrupt? Mismanagement of a company for even a few years can put a company in a tailspin for a decade. For a mature successful company Tim Cook is exactly what you want. Why mess with success?
Does Tim Cook staying around for another year mean the stock is 0.03% higher than it would be otherwise? If so, this is a wise decision from the Apple board.
Thousands seems high for the largest company in the world with potentially the most complex supply chain ever assembled. And that doesn't even mention the political issues that need to be navigated.
Your choices I imagine are the other Apple executives and the CEO of another International technology and/or manufacturing (potentially) company.
Your choices I imagine are the other Apple executives and the CEO of another International technology and/or manufacturing (potentially) company.
"the most complex supply chain ever assembled."
Right, all the people running Amazon, Wallmart, Nasa, BMW, Tesla, Spacex, managing contructuon of nuclear powerplants have no knowledge of supply chains.
You know, an iPhone or a macbook has more parts than an A380
Right, all the people running Amazon, Wallmart, Nasa, BMW, Tesla, Spacex, managing contructuon of nuclear powerplants have no knowledge of supply chains.
You know, an iPhone or a macbook has more parts than an A380
> Probably thousands?
Lmfao. Hacker News, never change.
Lmfao. Hacker News, never change.
Certainly thousands of people could achieve similar or better, finding one of them just happens to be incredibly difficult and risky.
"Similar" on the scale of a company worth $2.4 trillion isn't negligible. Nor is "difficult" or "risky."
There's one person in the world with a proven track record of succeeding leading the world's most valuable company over a decade. This compensation is a drop in the bucket relative to even a single strategic mishap by a less qualified candidate.
There's one person in the world with a proven track record of succeeding leading the world's most valuable company over a decade. This compensation is a drop in the bucket relative to even a single strategic mishap by a less qualified candidate.
I wouldn't want to be in charge of that headhunt, for sure.
Introducing the new CEO of Apple, Carly Fiorna!
At that level there is no such thing as 'qualified candidates' like in a generic job where you just fill your positions.
There is no justification needed (in the traditional sense), but there was one anyway: board set a goal, Tim had to meet that goal, and then they'd give him the money.
Say Apple made a couple hundred billions under Tim Cook's leadership and the way was paved for more of that in the coming years (keep in mind that there is no day-to-day, this really is many-year-planning; you practically have to predict the future to some extent), is a fraction of that really such an odd case to pay the person that did that?
Sure, you don't need that much money to live comfortably forever, but this is capitalism, I doubt the value created was needed either. But the board and Tim agreed and met their goal and thus the transaction was completed.
There is no justification needed (in the traditional sense), but there was one anyway: board set a goal, Tim had to meet that goal, and then they'd give him the money.
Say Apple made a couple hundred billions under Tim Cook's leadership and the way was paved for more of that in the coming years (keep in mind that there is no day-to-day, this really is many-year-planning; you practically have to predict the future to some extent), is a fraction of that really such an odd case to pay the person that did that?
Sure, you don't need that much money to live comfortably forever, but this is capitalism, I doubt the value created was needed either. But the board and Tim agreed and met their goal and thus the transaction was completed.
> How many Tim Cook's do you have lying around?
I think that's also silly calculation. Beyond a certain (admittedly unknowable) point, compensation becomes a meaningless number for the individual.
Would Tim Cook "rage-quit" Apple if they could only pay him, say, 75 million instead of 750 million? If yes, then it's pure greed. If no, then it's too much.
Is there something substantive behind that 750 million figure other than very powerful people just paying themselves as much as they can get away with? I think not.
I think that's also silly calculation. Beyond a certain (admittedly unknowable) point, compensation becomes a meaningless number for the individual.
Would Tim Cook "rage-quit" Apple if they could only pay him, say, 75 million instead of 750 million? If yes, then it's pure greed. If no, then it's too much.
Is there something substantive behind that 750 million figure other than very powerful people just paying themselves as much as they can get away with? I think not.
It’s shares and Apple’s market cap is 2.44 Trillion. Effectively shareholders paid 0.03cents on the dollar for Tim Cook. In exchange they get a steady ship that slowly and surely increases in value.
Why quibble about such a small amount? You’ve paid 0.03% of your current Apple holdings for a decade of growth creating value many orders of magnitude greater.
Why quibble about such a small amount? You’ve paid 0.03% of your current Apple holdings for a decade of growth creating value many orders of magnitude greater.
> Why quibble about such a small amount?
I am not quibbling about THAT amount.
I am quibbling about the fact that he (like other tycoons) sits on top of a giant pyramid of human labor, the majority of which earns just enough to make ends meet in a low cost of living country.
Sure, Tim Cook is a good person and deserves reward for what he has done and it should be "a hellava lot". At some point, however, that reward starts becoming absurd and nonsensical.
I am not quibbling about THAT amount.
I am quibbling about the fact that he (like other tycoons) sits on top of a giant pyramid of human labor, the majority of which earns just enough to make ends meet in a low cost of living country.
Sure, Tim Cook is a good person and deserves reward for what he has done and it should be "a hellava lot". At some point, however, that reward starts becoming absurd and nonsensical.
Market cap is not a real sum of money that actually exists and coupd be retrieved. You, the sharegolder, oan the company, and pay Tim Cook out of revenue. From that perspective salaries of upper management are not so trivial
It can’t be retrieved in one go. But provided every shareholder doesn’t try to liquidate their position simultaneously, then it’s a reasonable metric to use for determining how much shareholder value was lost when Tim was granted the shares.
Disregarding market cap as not real money would be like disregarding your checking account as not real because the bank operates a fractional reserve.
Disregarding market cap as not real money would be like disregarding your checking account as not real because the bank operates a fractional reserve.
Apple's 2020 revenue was 274 bn $, and on track to substantially increase in 2021. Tim Cook's compensation is about < 0.3% of that revenue.
Then again, I'm not sure it makes more sense to compare stock-based compensation with revenue than with market cap.
Then again, I'm not sure it makes more sense to compare stock-based compensation with revenue than with market cap.
> Is there something substantive behind that 750 million figure other than very powerful people just paying themselves as much as they can get away with? I think not.
If you are already rich enough to retire many times over, why should you keep working on something that doesn't move the scale of your money (and consequently power and ability to do other things, including starting a new business that could disrupt your previous business?)
Think of it this way: a lot of the money that is being paid to Tim Cook is to ensure that he doesn't go to work somewhere else.
If you are already rich enough to retire many times over, why should you keep working on something that doesn't move the scale of your money (and consequently power and ability to do other things, including starting a new business that could disrupt your previous business?)
Think of it this way: a lot of the money that is being paid to Tim Cook is to ensure that he doesn't go to work somewhere else.
Because you like your current job? Why would someone like Cook start a new business when he can do it within Apple?
Can he turn Apple into a computer company that would focus on replaceable, modular electronics? Something like Fairphone, but on a bigger scale and with more resources, or that could have more runway without turning a profit? No, he can't. Apple is known for being a company that wants to integrate everything and needs to control all of its process. And for all the environmental talk, they would never sacrifice their bottom line to ensure their products are really green.
Could he turn Apple into an online education platform that leverage open source platforms and open hardware to make it as affordable as possible to everyone? No, he can't. Apple depends on the brand of exclusivity and premium products.
Need I go on?
Could he turn Apple into an online education platform that leverage open source platforms and open hardware to make it as affordable as possible to everyone? No, he can't. Apple depends on the brand of exclusivity and premium products.
Need I go on?
When did Tim Cook become interested in those things? No he can’t turn Apple into a pizza delivery service either. And?
Apple is a hardware company that makes phones, pushes for a "green and socio-environmentally fair" agenda and also markets its computers to young people and the education market. Is it really that much of a stretch that this someone at Apple would be interested in working on these areas?
In any case, it's a sad state of the world when even the CEO of the richest corporation in the world can not be allowed to be interested in anything else that is perfectly aligned with the company's goals.
In any case, it's a sad state of the world when even the CEO of the richest corporation in the world can not be allowed to be interested in anything else that is perfectly aligned with the company's goals.
Wouldn't he have done that by investing some of his money by now? It's clear he's not interested in those things and his interests align with Apple's
More likely, he can not invest in these kind of things without being called out for conflict of interest.
But anyway, you asked if there is any kind of job that he couldn't do at Apple. I just gave you a couple of examples. You didn't specify that it had to me something that he would be personally interested in doing publicly. I don't know him personally nor I care about him (or Apple) to spend more time and thought about the matter.
But anyway, you asked if there is any kind of job that he couldn't do at Apple. I just gave you a couple of examples. You didn't specify that it had to me something that he would be personally interested in doing publicly. I don't know him personally nor I care about him (or Apple) to spend more time and thought about the matter.
If he did, would he then be worth the 750 million?
If he did, it would be because the board would have approved the decision and would be willing to make this kind of bet.
But this is getting so much in the realm of the hypotheticals, I really don't care about the argument either way.
But this is getting so much in the realm of the hypotheticals, I really don't care about the argument either way.
It's a very interesting topic, but clearly the investors/board got what they wanted so they are giving him the payout. It was tied to a goal and they got that goal. So presumably the people paying are happy to pay him that amount.
Would he have reached/pushed for a particularly aggressive goal for less? Could someone else have achieved that goal for less?
No doubt there is some element of personal relationships between everyone in the compensation committee and the ceo.
Would he have reached/pushed for a particularly aggressive goal for less? Could someone else have achieved that goal for less?
No doubt there is some element of personal relationships between everyone in the compensation committee and the ceo.
> If yes, then it's pure greed. If no, then it's too much.
I think these numbers are set by compensation committees of the Board of Directors using consultants that analyze other private and public company data. So if you have some small number of greedy individuals pushing for massive compensation based on stock performance, then that trickles through the industry. Cook doesn’t have to be greedy to just not want to be underpaid relative to market, even when the market is set by a few greedy individuals.
It is a race to the top. Solvable via regulation if anyone really cared, but I suspect no one really does.
I think these numbers are set by compensation committees of the Board of Directors using consultants that analyze other private and public company data. So if you have some small number of greedy individuals pushing for massive compensation based on stock performance, then that trickles through the industry. Cook doesn’t have to be greedy to just not want to be underpaid relative to market, even when the market is set by a few greedy individuals.
It is a race to the top. Solvable via regulation if anyone really cared, but I suspect no one really does.
> It is a race to the top. Solvable via regulation if anyone really cared, but I suspect no one really does.
Well put. I suppose no one cares enough because, after all, there aren't THAT MANY billionaire tycoons. And, sure, they perform a valuable function in putting many people to work and giving away millions of turkeys on thanksgiving, etc.
But now, we're in an era of billionaires racing each other into space and compensation levels which are "astronomical". It's in some ways a repeat of the age of robber-barons except I don't see it slowing down any time soon. Now I wonder what ended "the gilded age" ~100 years ago? Oh yeah, world war + economic crash.
Well put. I suppose no one cares enough because, after all, there aren't THAT MANY billionaire tycoons. And, sure, they perform a valuable function in putting many people to work and giving away millions of turkeys on thanksgiving, etc.
But now, we're in an era of billionaires racing each other into space and compensation levels which are "astronomical". It's in some ways a repeat of the age of robber-barons except I don't see it slowing down any time soon. Now I wonder what ended "the gilded age" ~100 years ago? Oh yeah, world war + economic crash.
> by their scarcity
By their perceived scarcity
Chances are that anyone other than Tim could have done just as well.
Still, this is over 10 years, and Apple shares have increased in value by 1900%.
If they were still the same value he’d have gotten 40M, for about 4M per year. Which is much more reasonable.
I still think it’s high, but in line with what others get.
By their perceived scarcity
Chances are that anyone other than Tim could have done just as well.
Still, this is over 10 years, and Apple shares have increased in value by 1900%.
If they were still the same value he’d have gotten 40M, for about 4M per year. Which is much more reasonable.
I still think it’s high, but in line with what others get.
Because it should be about productivity. People are highlighting a moral failing of society.
If we were to live in a world where we are measured by our productivity, we would ALL be treated like the replaceable cogs from the Chinese factory.
If that’s frightening to you, I think you’re seeing the point.
Isn't that frightening to you? What makes you think you would not be living under the whip?
I think parent's point is: why do we think it is ok to treat some people this way and not others?
- Because the people that already found a way to display the scarcity of their talent or abilities don't need to subject themselves to a system that measures them by their productivity.
- Because it is not on "us" to try to change this at an universal scale. I am all for people that believe in communist ideals and go to live on their own with like-minded people. The problem is those that take this to totalitarianism and think something like "communism can only work if it everyone does it"
- Because history has witnessed already many people that tried to change this reality without ignoring scale, and ended up causing more problems that solutions, destroyed more wealth and made the world worse than they started off.
- Because it is not on "us" to try to change this at an universal scale. I am all for people that believe in communist ideals and go to live on their own with like-minded people. The problem is those that take this to totalitarianism and think something like "communism can only work if it everyone does it"
- Because history has witnessed already many people that tried to change this reality without ignoring scale, and ended up causing more problems that solutions, destroyed more wealth and made the world worse than they started off.
Do you feel that your productivity as a trained professional is the same as anybody else's productivity?
The trick would be to allow workers to capture all of their productivity rather than have a large amount of it syphoned off by owners.
The trick would be to allow workers to capture all of their productivity rather than have a large amount of it syphoned off by owners.
> Do you feel that your productivity as a trained professional is the same as anybody else's productivity?
How would you even compare that? How would you even measure your productivity? Lines of code? Tickets closed?
We can't even compare "productivity" in our own "profession", much less between different ones.
Fuck, even to think in terms of "professions" today seems so anachronistic... some of the best people I worked with were never trained, should we disregard them and go back to a world of credentialism and guilds?
> The trick would be to allow workers to capture all of their productivity rather than have a large amount of it syphoned off by owners.
More likely, entrepreneurs would simply automate the shit of out of their work and outsource what is not automatable to other service providers. And all of the "workers" who can not think for themselves will be left jobless and crying for someone to help them.
How would you even compare that? How would you even measure your productivity? Lines of code? Tickets closed?
We can't even compare "productivity" in our own "profession", much less between different ones.
Fuck, even to think in terms of "professions" today seems so anachronistic... some of the best people I worked with were never trained, should we disregard them and go back to a world of credentialism and guilds?
> The trick would be to allow workers to capture all of their productivity rather than have a large amount of it syphoned off by owners.
More likely, entrepreneurs would simply automate the shit of out of their work and outsource what is not automatable to other service providers. And all of the "workers" who can not think for themselves will be left jobless and crying for someone to help them.
>
How would you even compare that? How would you even measure your productivity? Lines of code? Tickets closed?
How would you measure your scarcity? It is similarly difficult. "Workers are paid according to their productivity" does not mean "there is a fixed mechanical pay formula based on lines of code or something".
> More likely, entrepreneurs would simply automate the shit of out of their work and outsource what is not automatable to other service providers. And all of the "workers" who can not think for themselves will be left jobless and crying for someone to help them.
If entrepreneurs can already do this, why the fuck are they paying so much money for engineers in the bay area? Wouldn't "can be replaced by machines" be the literal minimum possible scarcity?
How would you measure your scarcity? It is similarly difficult. "Workers are paid according to their productivity" does not mean "there is a fixed mechanical pay formula based on lines of code or something".
> More likely, entrepreneurs would simply automate the shit of out of their work and outsource what is not automatable to other service providers. And all of the "workers" who can not think for themselves will be left jobless and crying for someone to help them.
If entrepreneurs can already do this, why the fuck are they paying so much money for engineers in the bay area? Wouldn't "can be replaced by machines" be the literal minimum possible scarcity?
> If entrepreneurs can already do this, why the fuck are they paying so much money for engineers in the bay area?
Because these people are scarce and companies can't automate that type of job. Yet.
But, just look at what happened when Facebook decided to not pay SF salaries to those that moved out of the Bay Area. That was just Zuck saying "if you want be anywhere in the world to work here, then I can also look anywhere in the world to hire people", which instantly made them realize that they are not that scarce anymore.
> How would you measure your scarcity?
- My employer finds someone that can do my job for less money than I am asking, so they replace me. I am not as scarce as I thought.
- Some other company will offer more money to do the same job I am doing currently. I am more scarce than I thought.
- I work on new things, show experience or an ability that not everyone in the company can - let's say I am now able to manage a team of developers or I can work on both the backend and do devops. My scarcity increased.
It's not that hard.
Because these people are scarce and companies can't automate that type of job. Yet.
But, just look at what happened when Facebook decided to not pay SF salaries to those that moved out of the Bay Area. That was just Zuck saying "if you want be anywhere in the world to work here, then I can also look anywhere in the world to hire people", which instantly made them realize that they are not that scarce anymore.
> How would you measure your scarcity?
- My employer finds someone that can do my job for less money than I am asking, so they replace me. I am not as scarce as I thought.
- Some other company will offer more money to do the same job I am doing currently. I am more scarce than I thought.
- I work on new things, show experience or an ability that not everyone in the company can - let's say I am now able to manage a team of developers or I can work on both the backend and do devops. My scarcity increased.
It's not that hard.
> Because these people are scarce and companies can't automate that type of job. Yet.
But you say that if we paid by productivity then entrepreneurs would simply bypass those people. Whether that is possible is independent of how we determine compensation.
> It's not that hard.
You allow yourself to provide a very loose mechanism for roughly determining scarcity but demand a very precise mechanism for determining productivity in the previous post. This is an unfair comparison.
But you say that if we paid by productivity then entrepreneurs would simply bypass those people. Whether that is possible is independent of how we determine compensation.
> It's not that hard.
You allow yourself to provide a very loose mechanism for roughly determining scarcity but demand a very precise mechanism for determining productivity in the previous post. This is an unfair comparison.
> But you say that if we paid by productivity then entrepreneurs would simply bypass those people.
No. Entrepreneurs will bypass them anyway, whenever possible and whenever profitable. The difference is that your idea of "paying by productivity" would make cheap labour expensive, consequently increasing the profitability of automating work process and accelerating the pace of replacing labour.
> You allow yourself to provide a very loose mechanism for roughly determining scarcity but demand a very precise mechanism for determining productivity in the previous post.
No, I am being descriptive of the current reality. You want to be normative about your idealistic method. So, yes, you have the onus of coming up with a system that could replace the existing one and be at least as effective.
No. Entrepreneurs will bypass them anyway, whenever possible and whenever profitable. The difference is that your idea of "paying by productivity" would make cheap labour expensive, consequently increasing the profitability of automating work process and accelerating the pace of replacing labour.
> You allow yourself to provide a very loose mechanism for roughly determining scarcity but demand a very precise mechanism for determining productivity in the previous post.
No, I am being descriptive of the current reality. You want to be normative about your idealistic method. So, yes, you have the onus of coming up with a system that could replace the existing one and be at least as effective.
This is a poor take. Productivity is meaningless, leverage and impact is everything.
Tim Cook working for one day could easily have a larger impact than most people will have in their entire lives because he has extremely high leverage.
Is it fair? Absolutely not, but life is not fair. I don't understand what moral obligation society should have to base compensation on productivity.
PS: you could argue that Tim Cook is far more productive than everyone else because he produces far more results than everyone else.
Tim Cook working for one day could easily have a larger impact than most people will have in their entire lives because he has extremely high leverage.
Is it fair? Absolutely not, but life is not fair. I don't understand what moral obligation society should have to base compensation on productivity.
PS: you could argue that Tim Cook is far more productive than everyone else because he produces far more results than everyone else.
> PS: you could argue that Tim Cook is far more productive than everyone else because he produces far more results than everyone else.
Of course. "Pay by productivity" does not mean "pay everybody the same per hour of labor". Cook's output has greater influence on the company than any (or perhaps almost any) other employee at Apple. He should be paid commensurate to that output.
Of course. "Pay by productivity" does not mean "pay everybody the same per hour of labor". Cook's output has greater influence on the company than any (or perhaps almost any) other employee at Apple. He should be paid commensurate to that output.
Oh, how do you think of productivity then? (E.g stock price, revenue growth, etc?)
I assumed you meant something along the lines "pay everybody the same per hour of labor" since that seems to be how most people describe productivity.
I assumed you meant something along the lines "pay everybody the same per hour of labor" since that seems to be how most people describe productivity.
The company produces some amount of economic output in a year. This can be stuff or it can be innovation. That is the total productivity of the company. The sum of all productivity of its employees adds up to that value. Right now, people are paid less than the value of their productivity so there is money leftover for the company to either stick in the bank (profit) or reinvest in other things.
Not everybody is equally productive. Somebody who has more skill or knowledge in a profession like software engineering will be considerably more productive than a less skilled engineer. Among leftist circles, I think you'd be very hard pressed to find people who describe productivity as literally just "number of hours worked".
Not everybody is equally productive. Somebody who has more skill or knowledge in a profession like software engineering will be considerably more productive than a less skilled engineer. Among leftist circles, I think you'd be very hard pressed to find people who describe productivity as literally just "number of hours worked".
What about companies that produce negative value (say, an oil company that caused an environmental disaster)? Are the workers going to return part of their salaries back?
How many software companies got off the ground, hired people, PAID SALARIES, yet never got to see themselves become profitable?
How many companies would not even have existed if there was no risk investment done?
How many software companies got off the ground, hired people, PAID SALARIES, yet never got to see themselves become profitable?
How many companies would not even have existed if there was no risk investment done?
Is that moral failing related to jealously about how others choose to spend money that isn't theirs?
Money is not gifted to people by God. It is allocated to people by systems that society chooses. The idea of the specific "rightful" ownership of money we have today is not universal throughout history and can change.
> It is allocated to people by systems that society chooses
Exactly. And history is pretty clear that nearly everyone is worse off when society decides how to spend money instead of letting owners decide how to spend money. It's why every first world economy has a massive dose of capitalism and a tiny dose of socialism in their GDP. And why a significant part of the worst economies of the world don't.
>The idea of the specific "rightful" ownership of money we have today is not universal throughout history
Yet the poor (and pretty much everybody else too) in most of the world, if not all, today are vastly richer than the poor of the past.... Maybe there's a reason the world has moved away from the economic systems of the past?
Exactly. And history is pretty clear that nearly everyone is worse off when society decides how to spend money instead of letting owners decide how to spend money. It's why every first world economy has a massive dose of capitalism and a tiny dose of socialism in their GDP. And why a significant part of the worst economies of the world don't.
>The idea of the specific "rightful" ownership of money we have today is not universal throughout history
Yet the poor (and pretty much everybody else too) in most of the world, if not all, today are vastly richer than the poor of the past.... Maybe there's a reason the world has moved away from the economic systems of the past?
I'm from former USSR and I can hardly stand this commie foolishness. Go to some socialist country like Cuba, Venezuela that have eliminated the inequality (like the USSR did before), then talk about 'moral failings of the society'.
Go to some country like the United States, where we have nice things like weekends and 40-hour work weeks because we had a rather successful labor movement in the early 20th century because of discussions like this. We used to have children working in coal mines, and now we don't largely because people spoke out. Thank god for them.
I think that the conditions of workers impoved in some countries after WWI because of Russia: politicians and entrepreneurs looked at what happened in Russia and decided to make the proletariat a bit less unhappy, because the alternative looked very very very bad
Imagine a world where we didn't have to choose exclusively between dictatorial communism and unfettered capitalism.
So sad that any other system is completely impossible
So sad that any other system is completely impossible
Our world is unfair only when the corruption interferes, that lets you receive more money than you are actually worth. But in case of foxconn workers and Cook, everything is fair. Foxconn workers are not chained to the benches, that simply don't know any other place where they can earn more. And I think Cook doesn't bribe anyone to achieve such payouts. If anything, he's doing a great job developing a business.
> Our world is unfair only when the corruption interferes, that lets you receive more money than you are actually worth.
What is corruption?
A software engineer doing the same work gets paid way more in SF than in London. State policies prevent free movement of labor between London and SF. State policies do not prevent free movement of capital across nations, as clearly seen by the number of megacorporations actually owned by weird subsidiaries in strange locations for tax purposes.
What is corruption?
A software engineer doing the same work gets paid way more in SF than in London. State policies prevent free movement of labor between London and SF. State policies do not prevent free movement of capital across nations, as clearly seen by the number of megacorporations actually owned by weird subsidiaries in strange locations for tax purposes.
Corruption is profiteering from occupying position of power, or from having ties with people in power. For example, getting a well paid job without necessary skills, because you are a nephew of a company vice president.
As for software engineers, recently so many people here are up in arms against the return to the office... But still want to get paid 3x the guy from Indonesia. I'm looking for them replaced with cheaper developers, and what they'll think then about the remote work.
As for software engineers, recently so many people here are up in arms against the return to the office... But still want to get paid 3x the guy from Indonesia. I'm looking for them replaced with cheaper developers, and what they'll think then about the remote work.
The USSR was an authoritarian hellscape. Most states in history have been that way. I am not convinced that deregulated capitalism is the only way to achieve non-authoritarian rule.
At the end of it's life, USSR wasn't a hellscape. It was a land of bored disillusioned people who knew the futility of trying, because the outcome was always fixed
So the fact that Apple's share price has increased 1,200% since he took over is just a coincidence?
To be fair Apple was already a giant rolling ball of success, and they have historically had an ingrained culture of caring deeply about their products above all else.
Any decisions that would affect their trajectory will get a ton of deliberation from a lot of smart people; i.e. there wouldn't need to be a ton of input or ingenuity from the CEO to see returns like those from Apple, imho.
Not to say that Cook isn't great or that it wouldn't be difficult to achieve that success.
Any decisions that would affect their trajectory will get a ton of deliberation from a lot of smart people; i.e. there wouldn't need to be a ton of input or ingenuity from the CEO to see returns like those from Apple, imho.
Not to say that Cook isn't great or that it wouldn't be difficult to achieve that success.
So many companies have flatlined after a new CEO took over, think Microsoft after Ballmer took over. So I think there is some difficulty involve.
I guess my point is that the leadership within Apple is a lot more diffuse than typical;
I believe most of Apple's value is from delivering a high degree of consistency and polish; owing to its culture of relentlessly developing the UX of their products.
Therefore the CEO's primary roles at Apple would be to maintain that culture, steer the ship into new segments, and discern when the public will care about those segments.
I think Cook has done a decent job of that.
Making it all possible with RnD and supply chain is another story, but also where Cook is known to excel so maybe I'm underselling him. Jobs had Cook so presumably Cook would find a Cook if he weren't Cook.
I don't know much about Microsoft but Balmer was definitely taking over a different beast than Cook.
I believe most of Apple's value is from delivering a high degree of consistency and polish; owing to its culture of relentlessly developing the UX of their products.
Therefore the CEO's primary roles at Apple would be to maintain that culture, steer the ship into new segments, and discern when the public will care about those segments.
I think Cook has done a decent job of that.
Making it all possible with RnD and supply chain is another story, but also where Cook is known to excel so maybe I'm underselling him. Jobs had Cook so presumably Cook would find a Cook if he weren't Cook.
I don't know much about Microsoft but Balmer was definitely taking over a different beast than Cook.
If I let my bias show I'd say Microsoft's value is from developing technology just enough to set up bill gates for customers :p
Apple was a giant rolling ball of success when John Sculley took over, too.
But that sure didn't last.
But that sure didn't last.
Were the shares previously nosediving before he took over?
I think it's laughable to assume that it was only Tim Cook who contributed to that. Indeed, where would we be if it wasn't for these handful of superhuman geniuses.
During his tenure the market cap has increased by about $2 trillion. How much of that value has Cook captured? A very small %. Perhaps even smaller than his actual contribution! You could easily make the argument that Cook is being exploited by the shareholders.
What has been the remarkably great move from Apple in the last 10 years?
Develop their iTunes store to provide more media and bring in-house productions to have a more of a moat?
Develop their own silicon to decrease reliance on others?
Develop products that can take advantage of their strengths, a la Tags?
Move into services as most of the world is getting more Apple-product saturated?
Extend ownership of their product lifecycles, by being hostile towards 3rd party repairs?
Offer financial services to allow the less fortunate to obtain your products?
I don't want to detract from the respect that's due for these moves, but they are not that far off the beaten path for a market leader looking to solidify it's position in it's place. Most other improvements to their products and services have been incremental. Of course, there is something to be said about not straying from the light, as other companies have done. However, I do think that Apple's valuation is somewhat tied to the buying power of the world, and on the timescale's we're looking at, more and more people are gaining access to Apples products as the world economy improves. All of these are great things, and of course I'm talking with hindsight, but to me these all feel like strategies that seem somewhat obvious and will generally work wonders when executed from the position of a market leader.
Maybe, maybe not, but I think the idea is that it's hard to say with certainty. Apple is large and complex enough that any number of factors could have lead to that share price increase. My personal opinion is that probably yeah he had a good chunk to do with it. But it's hard to say that with certainty, it's certainly worth discussing and not taking for granted.
Apple's share price has increased more than 12,000% since Foxconn received its first order from Apple. Is that just a coincidence?
Well, the same thing has happened for Amazon and Google, so… yes?
Of course you can argue that the wrong leader would have torpedoed the company.
Of course you can argue that the wrong leader would have torpedoed the company.
It's been 10 years since Jobs died and I'm yet to see anyone even speculate any other name that would've been better than Cook.
Your comment is typical from someone who thinks themselves to be smarter than the whole board. Or the investors that never challenged Tim's management, Or all of Apple's upper management who would love to find a way to take his spot and wouldn't care about exploiting some of Tim's weaknesses to dethrone the king...
Your comment is typical from someone who thinks themselves to be smarter than the whole board. Or the investors that never challenged Tim's management, Or all of Apple's upper management who would love to find a way to take his spot and wouldn't care about exploiting some of Tim's weaknesses to dethrone the king...
Yeah, well, boards of directors don't take "chances" like that on 2.5 trillion dollar companies, and when they do, the shareholders start machinating replacements, like Scott Galloway attempted when Jack Dorsey started getting a lot of eye-raising ideas.
Chances are anyone other than Tim could have done just as well?
Did you see what happened to Apple after Steve Jobs got fired? Have you seen what has happened to great civilizations after the roll of monarchical dice or even a democratic election?
Have you ever met a bozo? They exist and there's more of them than there are sane people.
Did you see what happened to Apple after Steve Jobs got fired? Have you seen what has happened to great civilizations after the roll of monarchical dice or even a democratic election?
Have you ever met a bozo? They exist and there's more of them than there are sane people.
Do we have numbers on how often that happens?
I think it’s generally just fine unless the incoming new CEO is determined to suddenly do everything different.
I think it’s generally just fine unless the incoming new CEO is determined to suddenly do everything different.
I don't think anyone other than Tim could have done just as well. If you look at competing tech corps - HP, IBM, Sun, MIPS, SGI, DEC, Nokia, even MS - their run isn't as long, they fail to adapt after a strong start, and the wheels often come off in spectacular ways.
And that's with competent management. (Let's not talk about the multiple management idiocies that happened at HP.)
Apple is now one of the longest lived tech corps. IBM is older but a shadow of its old self. MS is a year or so older, but the rest of FAANG are relatively new.
Cook has kept the plates spinning and turned Apple into a giant revenue machine with a strong R&D back-up. I don't think that's a small achievement, and even if he's helped by the board and senior execs - which of course he is - it's still easy to underestimate the skill that goes into that.
Having said that - he's also turned Apple into a somewhat boring company. The products are nice-looking and usually functional but not particularly thrilling. They feel overpriced. And I suspect some opportunities in home automation, user content creation, and health have been missed.
Cook's Apple is an all-American bureaucratic behemoth - a kind of modern General Electric which keeps churning out high levels of competence, but not much inspiration or excitement, and not a little frustration and irritation over nickel-and-diming of users and developers.
Someone else might not have made Apple as profitable, but personally I wouldn't have minded a friendlier and more inventive and adventurous company.
And that's with competent management. (Let's not talk about the multiple management idiocies that happened at HP.)
Apple is now one of the longest lived tech corps. IBM is older but a shadow of its old self. MS is a year or so older, but the rest of FAANG are relatively new.
Cook has kept the plates spinning and turned Apple into a giant revenue machine with a strong R&D back-up. I don't think that's a small achievement, and even if he's helped by the board and senior execs - which of course he is - it's still easy to underestimate the skill that goes into that.
Having said that - he's also turned Apple into a somewhat boring company. The products are nice-looking and usually functional but not particularly thrilling. They feel overpriced. And I suspect some opportunities in home automation, user content creation, and health have been missed.
Cook's Apple is an all-American bureaucratic behemoth - a kind of modern General Electric which keeps churning out high levels of competence, but not much inspiration or excitement, and not a little frustration and irritation over nickel-and-diming of users and developers.
Someone else might not have made Apple as profitable, but personally I wouldn't have minded a friendlier and more inventive and adventurous company.
You sure it wasn't Jobs? Looks to me like Cook just kept things going about the same as Jobs would have (at least the last version of him).
I do wonder how long it's gonna last.
I do wonder how long it's gonna last.
I wouldn't have guessed (/remembered) it had been ten years of Cook, but what I do remember is people saying exactly that when he took over.
I suppose at some point all companies die/fade into obscurity/are different companies in all but name; maybe in 2080 or whatever we'll be able to say - ah, yep, knew it, Apple was for the dogs as soon as Jobs left, was only a matter of time!
I suppose at some point all companies die/fade into obscurity/are different companies in all but name; maybe in 2080 or whatever we'll be able to say - ah, yep, knew it, Apple was for the dogs as soon as Jobs left, was only a matter of time!
Cook came to Apple only a year after Jobs did. Apple bought NeXT in 1997 and Cook joined Apple in 1998 (Jobs recruited him). So it’s hard to untangle their impacts. Apple became so successful in this century because of both great products and great operations.
> Chances are that anyone other than Tim could have done just as well.
The history of Apple CEOs indicates otherwise.
The history of Apple CEOs indicates otherwise.
> How many Tim Cook's do you have lying around?
I’d say it would be just about impossible to find anyone else capable giving such a wooden performance and unnatural fake excitement at product announcements. Perhaps a young Point Break-era Keanu? But even then, I’d actually believe when he says “whoa” as a new product is unveiled. So you’re right, irreplaceable.
I’d say it would be just about impossible to find anyone else capable giving such a wooden performance and unnatural fake excitement at product announcements. Perhaps a young Point Break-era Keanu? But even then, I’d actually believe when he says “whoa” as a new product is unveiled. So you’re right, irreplaceable.
People made the same claim about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and yet their companies greatly increased in value since they left.
A building is only as strong as its foundations. Companies are the same.
I'd say that the foundation Steve Jobs left (Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad) was pretty damn important to that success, considering they still have essentially the exact same product lineup.
Same goes for MS, Windows, Office, Xbox did not all come about after Bill Gates' departure.
I'd say that the foundation Steve Jobs left (Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad) was pretty damn important to that success, considering they still have essentially the exact same product lineup.
Same goes for MS, Windows, Office, Xbox did not all come about after Bill Gates' departure.
Then why;
1. Wasn't this priced in already?
2. Is it necessary to pay the new CEOs so much?
You argument is actually in opposition to the one I replied to, justifying Cook's renumeration.
1. Wasn't this priced in already?
2. Is it necessary to pay the new CEOs so much?
You argument is actually in opposition to the one I replied to, justifying Cook's renumeration.
Not exactly. Tim Cook is not paid by either the value of his work, or his scarcity. He is paid by the EXPECTATION of the value of his work… kind of like how stock markets work.
His pay is an expression of the expectation of a lot of other people. His pay is opinion, not direct value. And you can't pick some random unproven person who may or may not perform as well, and say they are of equivalent OPINION. You could say there's a chance, even a good chance, that they're of equivalent value, but that's a gamble.
This is how weird pay disparities develop. It's not in any way that Tim Cook has personally done things worth that much, or that he's personally pressuring all those in charge of paying him to that extent.
Intentionally or not, the question Tim Cook presents to those with the power to keep or dismiss him is this: How much are you willing to bet that if you lose me, things break and everything sucks?
They are willing to bet $750 million.
That's what happened. How much would you be willing to bet? If it's far less, or if you want to kick Tim out anyway, how many are there of you? Are you heavily outnumbered or are you expressing a common opinion?
His pay is an expression of the expectation of a lot of other people. His pay is opinion, not direct value. And you can't pick some random unproven person who may or may not perform as well, and say they are of equivalent OPINION. You could say there's a chance, even a good chance, that they're of equivalent value, but that's a gamble.
This is how weird pay disparities develop. It's not in any way that Tim Cook has personally done things worth that much, or that he's personally pressuring all those in charge of paying him to that extent.
Intentionally or not, the question Tim Cook presents to those with the power to keep or dismiss him is this: How much are you willing to bet that if you lose me, things break and everything sucks?
They are willing to bet $750 million.
That's what happened. How much would you be willing to bet? If it's far less, or if you want to kick Tim out anyway, how many are there of you? Are you heavily outnumbered or are you expressing a common opinion?
I suppose that's the plot to Trading Places.
"people are paid not by the value of their work, but by their scarcity"
When will we learn to stop making these silly arguments about "scarcity" and understand that the only thing that matters is a position of power?
Einstein and Steven Hawking were unique and advanced the entire human civilisation, whats their net work? Is anyone except the mentally ill going to suggest we have more Einsteins that Tim Cook's lying around?
When will we learn to stop making these silly arguments about "scarcity" and understand that the only thing that matters is a position of power?
Einstein and Steven Hawking were unique and advanced the entire human civilisation, whats their net work? Is anyone except the mentally ill going to suggest we have more Einsteins that Tim Cook's lying around?
Ultimately, yes. But where does that power come from?
Does Putin's, Joe Biden's and Edison's power come from the same 'source'? Are you implying power come from scarsity? Do we have scarsity of politicians?
Do you think that politicians are powerful? Power to me implies having the ability to do things beyond their attributions and expectations.
I think that if Biden or even Putin decided to color outside of the lines, they would be removed from their positions without prejudice.
I think that if Biden or even Putin decided to color outside of the lines, they would be removed from their positions without prejudice.
> people are paid not by the value of their work, but by their scarcity
So the less people there are who own the majority of the wealth on the planet, the more that is justified?
So their value is what, exactly? Scarcity by itself doesn't mean anything. There are diseases that are extremely rare, that doesn't make it more desirable to have them.
The rent seeking, wealth-siphoning people do need the people who build the stuff they live off. That's not true the other way around. You don't have to replace Tim Cook, you just have to get rid of him.
(edit: I don't mean Tim Cook personally, it's not intended as criticism of that particular person; but the amount of wealth such people (not to mention the people where the ratio is WAY more off) bind destroys so much productivity in the people that have to struggle as a result, that they would provide more value to the world and the people in it by not existing, than by anything they did or could possibly do)
So the less people there are who own the majority of the wealth on the planet, the more that is justified?
So their value is what, exactly? Scarcity by itself doesn't mean anything. There are diseases that are extremely rare, that doesn't make it more desirable to have them.
The rent seeking, wealth-siphoning people do need the people who build the stuff they live off. That's not true the other way around. You don't have to replace Tim Cook, you just have to get rid of him.
(edit: I don't mean Tim Cook personally, it's not intended as criticism of that particular person; but the amount of wealth such people (not to mention the people where the ratio is WAY more off) bind destroys so much productivity in the people that have to struggle as a result, that they would provide more value to the world and the people in it by not existing, than by anything they did or could possibly do)
While it would be difficult to replace someone like Tim Cook, this should not serve as an excuse to treat people as disposable. This attitude of disposability, which is exactly what your comment about replacing 160k employees implies, brings to mind barbaric labour practices of the past.
People are not disposable. The labour they provide is.
Nothing about any CEO is special other than they haooened to land in the cushiest gig known to man. They effectively just suck all the money out as opposed to the people quite literally making the products.
I can't wait until we are over this hump and our future selves are like 'fuck how stupid were we to let one asshole sit at the top and do nothing but PR while we all beat each other ober the scraps.'
See the rich have figured out that if you pay people almost enough to live they will spend their lives surviving and won't have time to look up and realize what's happening.
Love how you put productivity in quotes as if it's up for debate, and math is now plain silly as it goes against your narrative? Top class.
I can't wait until we are over this hump and our future selves are like 'fuck how stupid were we to let one asshole sit at the top and do nothing but PR while we all beat each other ober the scraps.'
See the rich have figured out that if you pay people almost enough to live they will spend their lives surviving and won't have time to look up and realize what's happening.
Love how you put productivity in quotes as if it's up for debate, and math is now plain silly as it goes against your narrative? Top class.
.. and how many Ballmers!
Celebrating maximum exploitation of workers by those with all the leverage & power and calling the decent consideration of another man's well-being silly, that's, well, I'll just say that I believe we can do better, sir.
Power centralization is an inevitable outcome of improved techniques. Centralized control imperfectly selects for highly specific skills that only few possess. One can attempt to regulate inequality and inform opinion to some extent, but this will become harder as we go forward due to their improved techniques enabling manipulation.
I imagine Tim Cook is good, but that good? How much of the success is because he does unique work? I mean, I can understand maybe from someone like Steve who was a visionary, but Tim? It looks to me more of an executor than a visionary. I am not saying he is a bad leader or anything, but 750 million dollars is a LOT of money.
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> I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of ~~Einstein~~ Cook’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
Original quote by Stephen Jay Gould.
Original quote by Stephen Jay Gould.
> How many Tim Cook's do you have lying around?
I don't think these people are as special and rare as you think they are.
There are plenty of smart people on the planet.
I don't think these people are as special and rare as you think they are.
There are plenty of smart people on the planet.
This reward was defined ten years ago. By definition, Tim Cook is unique in that he has successfully run Apple for ten years. The risk of taking on a new CEO is orders of magnitude greater than 750mn.
It's the brutal reality. But the argument is a moral and ethical one - not the subjective value of an individual's contribution.
How many people can make predictable, iteratively improved products? The difficulty is in marketing.
> When will we learn to stop making these silly calculations about "productivity" and understand that people are paid not by the value of their work, but by their scarcity?
You do realize that it's possible to disagree with that, right?
You do realize that it's possible to disagree with that, right?
The way it's phrased, I don't see how. You can disagree with the acceptance of it and work to change how things are done.
Then put forward your counter argument.
[deleted]
There are plenty of Tim Cooks around. THE Tim Cook is only in his position because of luck. Lucky to be born white white, in America and lucky in timing and connections.
Isn't this a form of tax evasion? By not hiring local people they avoid paying tax on their work. They also avoid any sensible employment regulations by outsourcing it to not so compatible with human rights China. In my opinion this kind of avoidance should be illegal. It does not benefit anybody except Communist Party of China and Apple.
More than one out of 160k. CEO are like president they don't do much, you remove Cook and replace it by another high level exec, probably nothing will change for Apple.
All the major tech compagnies have increased their value over the last 10 years, so it's def not because of their incredible CEO.
All the major tech compagnies have increased their value over the last 10 years, so it's def not because of their incredible CEO.
Put it this way. In the last 5 years Tim Cook has created $1900 b in shareholder value. If you divide that by 160000 you get $12 m. Now I don’t know how many phones a foxconn worker can make per year, but I do think it’s fair to assume they do not each create much more than $2 m in value annually.
Or another way to see it. While creating 2 trillion dollars of value for shareholders, he has been paid about 1.5 b. As a shareholder I think that’s very fair compensation.
So relative to value creation, nobody can claim that he’s overpaid. A deeper questions is if it’s reasonable for anyone to own a billion dollars. I don’t think so, but Tim Cook has deserved the money more than most.
Or another way to see it. While creating 2 trillion dollars of value for shareholders, he has been paid about 1.5 b. As a shareholder I think that’s very fair compensation.
So relative to value creation, nobody can claim that he’s overpaid. A deeper questions is if it’s reasonable for anyone to own a billion dollars. I don’t think so, but Tim Cook has deserved the money more than most.
Apple has how many employees? Cook was involved, but clearly is not the sole force contributing to that shareholder value.
Wow! Are you saying Musk and a regular employee in Tesla are the same? I am blown away. What do you think Satya Nadella’s role is in Microsoft’s revival after Ballmer?
The same? No. Off by a factor of thousands or millions? Unlikely.
I am not insisting that people should all earn the same amount of money. CEOs can absolutely provide a unique and valuable role and have more direct influence on shareholder value than almost any other laborer.
I am insisting that attributing all of the change in a stock price to a CEO is not an accurate representation of their role or labor.
I am not insisting that people should all earn the same amount of money. CEOs can absolutely provide a unique and valuable role and have more direct influence on shareholder value than almost any other laborer.
I am insisting that attributing all of the change in a stock price to a CEO is not an accurate representation of their role or labor.
> In the last 5 years Tim Cook has created $1900 b in shareholder value.
That's just obviously not the case unless Tim is the only person working at Apple. All employees contributed that and it's perfectly reasonable to discuss how these rewards should be distributed, even if they should be distributed to shareholders at all.
That's just obviously not the case unless Tim is the only person working at Apple. All employees contributed that and it's perfectly reasonable to discuss how these rewards should be distributed, even if they should be distributed to shareholders at all.
No matter how you look at it, a CEO that earns less than 0.1% of the shareholder value created under his watch can’t reasonably be called overpaid.
“No matter how you look at it”? I question this because I personally am fairly persuaded that, if the CEO is not the only employee at the company, but the CEO is stated to earn “shareholder value under his watch” and then a portion being 0.1%, but another employee, say a manager or a director who also likely “created shareholder value” but earned 0.0000000001% or some other ridiculous fraction I would indeed question what makes the CEO different from the other employees such that they deserve so much more than the other employees that contributed to the shareholder value generation.
Just compare with other tech companies. I haven’t checked but I don’t think 0.1% is high, my guess is that it’s very very low, but I could be wrong.
People seem to be really keen to forget that the CEO is an employee too. Should the shareholders profit exclusively when in effect the CEO is their representative?
The argument isn't that he should be paid less, the real argument is that the general day to day employees should be paid more. The money doesn't come out of the CEOs pocket in a publicly traded org.
The argument isn't that he should be paid less, the real argument is that the general day to day employees should be paid more. The money doesn't come out of the CEOs pocket in a publicly traded org.
It depends entirely if he's actually responsible for that created value. Maybe he didn't actually do anything special that anyone else couldn't have also done. In that case why would he deserve that much money?
While that is obviously a ludicrous idea, as a shareholder I don't really care if someone else also might have been able to do it. The fact is that Tim Cook DID preside over perhaps the most monumental value creation in corporate history, so I don't begrudge him the money.
To be honest, I wouldn't even blink if he was paid 10 times more, and I don't even like him.
To be honest, I wouldn't even blink if he was paid 10 times more, and I don't even like him.
What I find interesting is none of the outlets who are currntly proclaiming that there is a worker shortage ever mention the executive shortage. The executive shortage has massive impacts on firms, imagine how much value could be generated for the shareholders by the 750 million that was just blown on compensation? We should create tax incentives for firms to offshore their executives, as well as immigration programs that shackle executives in a job with fears of deportation for them and their families should they dare ask to be compensated like their domestic peers in order to improve the fitness and agility of the US economy.
Recipe to have a nonsensical argument:
1. Take a Normal distribution
2. Take 2 pieces of data that are 3 standard deviation from mean, in opposite directions
3. Compare and contrast
4. Keep a straight face while making the argument, use plenty of Logical fallacies to defend your position against logic and reasoning.
5. Alternate between attacking and being the victim.
6. Lather, rinse, repeat
1. Take a Normal distribution
2. Take 2 pieces of data that are 3 standard deviation from mean, in opposite directions
3. Compare and contrast
4. Keep a straight face while making the argument, use plenty of Logical fallacies to defend your position against logic and reasoning.
5. Alternate between attacking and being the victim.
6. Lather, rinse, repeat
Tim Cook can pay the Chinese workers rounding errors on his net worth because they and the other workers able to do similar work are not organized. They have no power. They can't ask for better working condition and better salary.
Also, he really cares about making money, so since the workers have no power, why give them anything else than the minimum and get yourself the maximum?
Who cares about some random oversea workers? Their problem, not mine. /s
Also, he really cares about making money, so since the workers have no power, why give them anything else than the minimum and get yourself the maximum?
Who cares about some random oversea workers? Their problem, not mine. /s
Chinese workers don't work for Apple. Apple, like any giant manufacturing conglomerate, relies on a complex supply chain of manufacturers who supply them with all the necessary parts and components. These manufacturers are also purchasing from even higher in the supply chain. As a company, Apple buys parts from suppliers, period. None of their business how these suppliers squeeze to deliver these parts at the best prices and quality.
Before Apple arrived at the current position (2000-2010) they were a small player and it wasn't possible to squeeze parts suppliers. Tim Cook gets an enormous payout because he navigated the company towards flipping this relationship, because he is an expert in squeezing the best quality/price for the parts. Getting the iPhone below $1000 is what gets him his $750mil
Before Apple arrived at the current position (2000-2010) they were a small player and it wasn't possible to squeeze parts suppliers. Tim Cook gets an enormous payout because he navigated the company towards flipping this relationship, because he is an expert in squeezing the best quality/price for the parts. Getting the iPhone below $1000 is what gets him his $750mil
Maybe a little off topic, but in my country you will have a very good life with $390 per month and yet we have near 35% of our population living on poverty.
The minimum wage is a little lower than that and there are a lot of laws favoring employees which makes it really hard for companies to hire. Just to give you an example, last year the president signed a decree to forbid companies firing people with the excuse of covid, nothing but a populist measure. The result is that no company will ever hire here, which creates more unemployment.
I mention this because giving a lot of rights to employees by law sounds good but I have seen and lived the consequences my entire life.
Should apple on their own pay more to chineese people? I think another comment address that, at the end is an scarcity problem, supply and demand.
The minimum wage is a little lower than that and there are a lot of laws favoring employees which makes it really hard for companies to hire. Just to give you an example, last year the president signed a decree to forbid companies firing people with the excuse of covid, nothing but a populist measure. The result is that no company will ever hire here, which creates more unemployment.
I mention this because giving a lot of rights to employees by law sounds good but I have seen and lived the consequences my entire life.
Should apple on their own pay more to chineese people? I think another comment address that, at the end is an scarcity problem, supply and demand.
My question is: how is Tim so productive that he does roughly 160,000 people’s work, or 1/8th of Foxconn’s total workforce? [2] /s
My question is: if Tim Cook didn't exist, would any of those Foxconn workers have jobs?
My other questions is: if you put 160,190 Foxconn workers in front of 160,190 development environments, how long before they would randomly re-create the iPhone?
You can't compare salaries, or even value, of people at two massively different levels in the machine. Is Tim Cook "worth" more than 160,190 Foxconn workers? Apple's board and investors seem to think so, and they are Apple's ultimate "customer", being that it is a publicly traded company.
My question is: if Tim Cook didn't exist, would any of those Foxconn workers have jobs?
My other questions is: if you put 160,190 Foxconn workers in front of 160,190 development environments, how long before they would randomly re-create the iPhone?
You can't compare salaries, or even value, of people at two massively different levels in the machine. Is Tim Cook "worth" more than 160,190 Foxconn workers? Apple's board and investors seem to think so, and they are Apple's ultimate "customer", being that it is a publicly traded company.
I think it's a interesting discussion, because often when CEO comps come under scrutiny, one side will naturally argue that company performance correlated directly to CEO performance.
Stock goes up = CEO does good job
Stock stagnates or goes down = CEO does a bad job.
It's an incredibly complex ting to analyze - but how much of company performance is really the result of the CEO, and the CEO alone? Sure, he sets the N-year course of the company, and being the navigator and captain of a ship, you should get some reward if the ship arrives its destination, intact, and on time.
But I mean, how much of Apple company performance is nothing more than just built up momentum? Apple doesn't need to be revolutionary or cutting edge. They just need to adopt working/in-demand products to their own (Apple) domain, and their brand name alone will sell those products. Those Foxconn workers would likely have their jobs, Tim Cook or not in charge. And if not Foxconn, then some other factories and factory workers.
Ok, that's a lot of rambling, but I guess my point is that when you're dealing with a behemoth of a company like Apple, with hundreds of millions of users locked in to their products, it's difficult to credit a CEO alone of the success.
Stock goes up = CEO does good job
Stock stagnates or goes down = CEO does a bad job.
It's an incredibly complex ting to analyze - but how much of company performance is really the result of the CEO, and the CEO alone? Sure, he sets the N-year course of the company, and being the navigator and captain of a ship, you should get some reward if the ship arrives its destination, intact, and on time.
But I mean, how much of Apple company performance is nothing more than just built up momentum? Apple doesn't need to be revolutionary or cutting edge. They just need to adopt working/in-demand products to their own (Apple) domain, and their brand name alone will sell those products. Those Foxconn workers would likely have their jobs, Tim Cook or not in charge. And if not Foxconn, then some other factories and factory workers.
Ok, that's a lot of rambling, but I guess my point is that when you're dealing with a behemoth of a company like Apple, with hundreds of millions of users locked in to their products, it's difficult to credit a CEO alone of the success.
I would actually propose that Tim Cook could be worth infinitely more than 160,190 Foxconn workers because they may have never re-created the iPhone.
> My question is: how is Tim so productive that he does roughly 160,000 people’s work, or 1/8th of Foxconn’s total workforce? [2] /s
Nobody has been making these productivity claims to begin with, but leftists commonly use productivity vs salary to ridicule CEO compensation.
CEOs are paid for numerous reasons, for example board wants to trust the person with billions worth of assets which makes it sensible to pay certain amount just to guarantee greed doesnt take over, for example. Productivity is one factor but I doubt it is always the most important thing.
Nobody has been making these productivity claims to begin with, but leftists commonly use productivity vs salary to ridicule CEO compensation.
CEOs are paid for numerous reasons, for example board wants to trust the person with billions worth of assets which makes it sensible to pay certain amount just to guarantee greed doesnt take over, for example. Productivity is one factor but I doubt it is always the most important thing.
You are justifying someone being paid $750m. No one needs that much money. No one. Why are you defending this? It's obscene.
Really reminds me of this https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/147/150/e2c...
Really reminds me of this https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/147/150/e2c...
> You are justifying someone being paid $750m. No one needs that much money. No one. Why are you defending this? It's obscene.
Yeah, he doesn't need it, but I am happy that he has it. He clearly is a guy who can deliver value for society and I don't think he is going to use the money stupidly.
Would I pay someone $750m to run a company? Definitely not. However as a stock owner I would pay using stock compensation, and that's what happened here. The whole idea that the owners are paying in cash is wrong to begin with, as that isn't the case.
Yeah, he doesn't need it, but I am happy that he has it. He clearly is a guy who can deliver value for society and I don't think he is going to use the money stupidly.
Would I pay someone $750m to run a company? Definitely not. However as a stock owner I would pay using stock compensation, and that's what happened here. The whole idea that the owners are paying in cash is wrong to begin with, as that isn't the case.
Of course no one needs it. But the discussion here was if he had earned it, and he definitely has. Relative to value creation, I bet he’s very low in the CEO compensation league.
> But the discussion here was if he had earned it, and he definitely has.
I disagree.
> Relative to value creation, I bet he’s very low in the CEO compensation league.
You really think Tim Cook has created the value of the company? I very seriously doubt it. At the risk of whataboutisms: what about the engineers who did the work? What about the factory workers who did the work? What about the contractors who did the work?
Tim Cook didn't create the value. He created a contract. That's all.
I disagree.
> Relative to value creation, I bet he’s very low in the CEO compensation league.
You really think Tim Cook has created the value of the company? I very seriously doubt it. At the risk of whataboutisms: what about the engineers who did the work? What about the factory workers who did the work? What about the contractors who did the work?
Tim Cook didn't create the value. He created a contract. That's all.
> He created a contract. That's all.
OK then.
OK then.
People are not paid based on what they need, they're paid based on value they provide (and other things, like how difficult they are to replace).
> People are not paid based on what they need, they're paid based on value they provide
If that were true then he'd be paid far less. Tim Cook does not provide value to Apple to the tune of billions of dollars. The people who work for Apple do.
> how difficult they are to replace
What would be difficult about replacing Tim Cook?
If that were true then he'd be paid far less. Tim Cook does not provide value to Apple to the tune of billions of dollars. The people who work for Apple do.
> how difficult they are to replace
What would be difficult about replacing Tim Cook?
Elsewhere in this post people have said that his compensation is 0.03% of Apple's market cap.
It would not be hard to believe that Tim Cook's decisions had a larger impact than that on Apple's market cap because he has extremely high leverage as the CEO.
It would not be hard to believe that Tim Cook's decisions had a larger impact than that on Apple's market cap because he has extremely high leverage as the CEO.
That people should only have what they “need” as determined by [you?] is a political/moral philosophy that is quite controversial.
You want to go down that path? Do tech works in SF “need” $500k compensation packages?
I have no problem defending billionaires who I think are good people, such as Bill Gates.
Are you serious? His PR person must be working some serious magic. Before 2020, Billy was known to be the most ruthless capitalist CEO of the late 20th century.
When will people be done with these communism ideas? Go to Cuba or Venezuela to experience the equality by yourself, like I did: I was born in the USSR, and though I was young when it finally dissolved, I've had enough of this commie shit.
Since he immedially sold all the stock, I assume he has a use for the money. Otherwise keeping the stock would be better.
The markets are seriously inflated with cheap money. That can’t last forever, or even much longer. Best to cash in now and redeploy the cash to a diverse set of assets.
That’s just risk management
It just goes to show how deeply the capitalist narrative dominates our entire society, that we have people defending this so earnestly.
I can imagine investing in megaproejcts or foundations that nobody else seems to be investing in for the good of humanity or a cause, such as space travel.
Otherwise, 750 million dollars is probably more than what anybody needs.
It reminded me of SpaceX almost dying in the early days because even Elon Musk is not made out of unlimited money.
Otherwise, 750 million dollars is probably more than what anybody needs.
It reminded me of SpaceX almost dying in the early days because even Elon Musk is not made out of unlimited money.
Wait-- so paying large amounts stops greed from taking over? I wonder how that is working for them.
though you have a valid point, CEO pay isn't about CEO productivity, it is about corporate productivity.
though you have a valid point, CEO pay isn't about CEO productivity, it is about corporate productivity.
[deleted]
Ok now do this same exercise with your own salary.
In fact, anyone here can. Are you as a software engineer making $200,000+ delivering as much value as ~42 of these Chinese laborers at Foxconn? I doubt it.
And people pointing to Tim Cook about how it’s all unfair and everything. Dang I mean the cognitive dissonance and ego to think that you making 42x a worker is ok because the JIRA tickets you addressed add a lot to the bottom line but Tim Cook just makes too much?
Personally I don’t really care. Just find it interesting to see how people justify themselves.
In fact, anyone here can. Are you as a software engineer making $200,000+ delivering as much value as ~42 of these Chinese laborers at Foxconn? I doubt it.
And people pointing to Tim Cook about how it’s all unfair and everything. Dang I mean the cognitive dissonance and ego to think that you making 42x a worker is ok because the JIRA tickets you addressed add a lot to the bottom line but Tim Cook just makes too much?
Personally I don’t really care. Just find it interesting to see how people justify themselves.
tbh I don‘t. Even compared to people in my country I feel like I‘m not creating much more value than those paid a minimum wage. I rather feel both lucky working in an industry where (too) much money changes hands and a bit guilty, too
> how is Tim so productive that he does roughly 160,000 people’s work
How many Blackberry or Palms phones are being made, if the person at the top screws up, all those workers are out of a job.
How many Blackberry or Palms phones are being made, if the person at the top screws up, all those workers are out of a job.
Because those workers are not in a position to effect meaningful marginal value creation.
Let’s say you paid that $750m in bonuses to those factory workers, what value was created for shareholders? Zero, because Apple doesn’t have a capacity problem producing iPhones…
Who knows how much value Tim Cook created vs some other CEO (he may have destroyed value), we’ll never know, but I think the philosophy is to align incentives between shareholders and the people that are in positions to drive value.
Let’s say you paid that $750m in bonuses to those factory workers, what value was created for shareholders? Zero, because Apple doesn’t have a capacity problem producing iPhones…
Who knows how much value Tim Cook created vs some other CEO (he may have destroyed value), we’ll never know, but I think the philosophy is to align incentives between shareholders and the people that are in positions to drive value.
For starters divide everything by 10 because this was for the last ten years (first line in the article). I think your suggestion that pay should be closely tied to productivity is kind of correct, but it’s missing a “value” component— and Cook provided a lot of value to a lot of people, 100s of billions. Pro rata he’s just getting a small commission. It’s not like you can hire 1600 workers and replace Cook with them.
For some reason owners of Apple value Tim Cook worth of billions.
I am sure that if you can replace Tim Cook and work for 390$ per month, owners will happily fire Tim Cook.
I am sure that if you can replace Tim Cook and work for 390$ per month, owners will happily fire Tim Cook.
i would expect such reasoning on tabloids but on hn?
HN has been lurching left very quickly over the past years. Dunno if you’ve noticed.
True or not, that's not related to the accusation of 'tabloid reasoning'. See political leanings of UK tabloids for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_Unit...
Adding two _trillion_ dollars of net worth sounds pretty productive to me.
Out of interest, how much of that two trillion dollars do you think is directly attributable to the role of CEO?
No less than 5%, or 100 billion.
> If we divide Tim's $750,000,000 bonus/payout this year by that $4,681.92 yearly Foxconn salary, we get 160,190
Why are we dividing a once-in-10-years (based on targets set 10 years ago) bonus by an every-year salary number?
As in, all your numbers are off by a factor of 10, as far as I can see.
Why are we dividing a once-in-10-years (based on targets set 10 years ago) bonus by an every-year salary number?
As in, all your numbers are off by a factor of 10, as far as I can see.
>What makes Apple treat Chinese workers so differently?
You're asking the wrong question.
It should be: Why is there no disincentive to take unfair advantage of cheap foreign labor?
You're asking the wrong question.
It should be: Why is there no disincentive to take unfair advantage of cheap foreign labor?
Why there should be?
We live in a global free trade era. Every entity buys cheapest and sells dearest as they can to the best of the information they have.
Labour is just one more thing available for buying.
Not saying this is the best possible humans can do but in the current world economic system it makes no sense for anyone to dis incentivise employing cheaper foreign labour.
We live in a global free trade era. Every entity buys cheapest and sells dearest as they can to the best of the information they have.
Labour is just one more thing available for buying.
Not saying this is the best possible humans can do but in the current world economic system it makes no sense for anyone to dis incentivise employing cheaper foreign labour.
Supply and demand.
How many people can assemble widgets? Billions of people.
How many people can make the correct decisions as a CEO of a large company? Really not many, since you need someone with an IQ over 140, someone with industry expertise, with the right personality, etc. So the supply is low. Also the demand is high, since that person's decision making has multi-billion dollar consequences. Low supply and high demand equal $$$.
How many people can assemble widgets? Billions of people.
How many people can make the correct decisions as a CEO of a large company? Really not many, since you need someone with an IQ over 140, someone with industry expertise, with the right personality, etc. So the supply is low. Also the demand is high, since that person's decision making has multi-billion dollar consequences. Low supply and high demand equal $$$.
That's the biggest problem with the current monopoly capitalism. Centralization of power into single people making decisions with momentous impacts (be they 140+ IQ or total idiots as some other CEOs are). A good economy is made from small and medium enterprises in which some of them failing do not make much of a difference. That is also the basis of a good investment strategy, diversification.
If the single person in power does good then everything is good (more for the top people but good for everyone nonetheless). But if they do bad then thousands to hundreds of thousands of people suffer. (Reminds you of monarchy?) And the current way of looking at this is just to hope that the person in power will be happy to do good due to more shares. What would be, in my opinion, better would be to split FAANGS and encourage SMEs (small and medium enterprises)
If the single person in power does good then everything is good (more for the top people but good for everyone nonetheless). But if they do bad then thousands to hundreds of thousands of people suffer. (Reminds you of monarchy?) And the current way of looking at this is just to hope that the person in power will be happy to do good due to more shares. What would be, in my opinion, better would be to split FAANGS and encourage SMEs (small and medium enterprises)
How many of those 160,000 people would be able to successfully run Apple?
Would all 160,000 of them put together be able to do a better job than Tim did?
Would all 160,000 of them put together be able to do a better job than Tim did?
Compensation is a function of how difficult it is to find/replace a worker, not their productivity.
it is not about being 160K more productive. It is about supply and demand (of talent). Try finding even 5 Tim Cooks, not 160K. He is hired by Apple’s shareholders, what would happen to share price if he leaves?
Most of the comments are focusing on your salary comparisons, and while I do think it's not quite as simple as what you've laid out (we know how capitalism and its reward structures work), the wider and much more important point I take from your comment is about how workers in these overseas factories are treated generally, not necessarily just about what they're paid.
There clearly IS a problem here. It's not just Apple and it's not just corporations, we all (in the West) have to take a bit of responsibility around this.
So for everyone disagreeing with you, I do think you raise/{remind us of} some important ethical issues that do need ongoing and open discussion.
There clearly IS a problem here. It's not just Apple and it's not just corporations, we all (in the West) have to take a bit of responsibility around this.
So for everyone disagreeing with you, I do think you raise/{remind us of} some important ethical issues that do need ongoing and open discussion.
In a capitalist society, wealth accumulation by the capitalist class has no relation whatsoever to number of hours worked or level of productivity. It is in fact the opposite, their wealth increases non-linearly to any input; ownership is all that matters. The worker class however, the Foxconn employees you’re talking about, have a linear relationship to their income, and yes, are generally taken advantage of by the capitalist class. It doesn’t matter that Tim Cook is a salaried employee, he is still part of the capitalist class because his income depends largely on Apple’s stock performance.
As a comment already says, this was due to meeting targets agreed 10 years ago.
Now a lot of that is due to share prices, and my opinion is share prices are not set by the market any more, are massively inflated to make the US government look good, but that doesn't have much to do with Cook, much like Tesla's share price doesn't have much to do with Elon Musk (I'm serious, the guy is good at marketing, but that only takes you so far).
There's been low interest rates for almost 2 decades now. One of the primary effects of that is inflated share prices.
So, to say the least, this is a complex situation. Comparing Cook's renumeration to a chinese worker is just silly.
Now a lot of that is due to share prices, and my opinion is share prices are not set by the market any more, are massively inflated to make the US government look good, but that doesn't have much to do with Cook, much like Tesla's share price doesn't have much to do with Elon Musk (I'm serious, the guy is good at marketing, but that only takes you so far).
There's been low interest rates for almost 2 decades now. One of the primary effects of that is inflated share prices.
So, to say the least, this is a complex situation. Comparing Cook's renumeration to a chinese worker is just silly.
Speaking of Tesla's share price. It has Price/Earnings (PE) ratio of 1095 while a normal ratio is around 5 to 10, perhaps around 20 for tech companies. Apple's PE is 29.
Share prices have definitely lost all sense in March 2020. One should keep that in mind when analysing the current economy.
Share prices have definitely lost all sense in March 2020. One should keep that in mind when analysing the current economy.
That's the definition of capitalism.
Kiro(1)
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I am more interested to know how much of that payout he will be taxed on
Compensation like this is considered regular income, so as Tim is a California resident over half will be owed as tax immediately.
If it’s mostly long term capital gains, he’s in the 20% LTCG tax bracket.
23.8%, because he would surely have to pay NIIT as well, right?
But also, that's just federal taxes. California adds 13.3% on top of that (for any income over $1 million, which is most of the income here).
But also, this is a stock grant, which generally get taxed as ordinary income, so I would expect 37% federal, 2.35% medicare, 13.3% California tax, adding up to 52.65% in taxes.
But also, that's just federal taxes. California adds 13.3% on top of that (for any income over $1 million, which is most of the income here).
But also, this is a stock grant, which generally get taxed as ordinary income, so I would expect 37% federal, 2.35% medicare, 13.3% California tax, adding up to 52.65% in taxes.
I’d bet money that Apple’s or Cook’s could afford an accountant that is smart enough to structure the deal so that it would be all long term capital gains instead of all ordinary income. Just say that he received the shares a year ago or when he started but those shares weren’t vested until now. Then it would be 23.8% federal instead of 37% federal… Although our government is broke and needs that extra tax revenue.
The legal structures for RSUs are pretty clear, and they are counted as ordinary income when they vest.
The particular shares involved _could_ have used a different legal structure, but that's not my understanding based on the articles I've seen about this.
But even in your hypothetical it would not all be capital gains. It would be ordinary income for the value of the shares at the point of the grant, and capital gains for the appreciation since then.
The particular shares involved _could_ have used a different legal structure, but that's not my understanding based on the articles I've seen about this.
But even in your hypothetical it would not all be capital gains. It would be ordinary income for the value of the shares at the point of the grant, and capital gains for the appreciation since then.
I think medicare is capped after your first 140K of income, so it is a rounding error. Tax is still a huge cut.
You're thinking social security. Medicare is very much not capped, and in fact you only hit the 2.35% rate after 200k individual or 250k family income; it's 1.45% before that (for the employee side).
You are correct, thanks
Can we just let Apple shareholders decide for themselves how they want to spend their money?
Shareholders elected a board which voted to spend this money 10 years ago. If shareholders were unhappy they could elect a new board.
That’s my question. How does this benefit Apple as a company or shareholders?
The shareholders decided that providing a share incentive for raising the share price higher than other company shares was a great way to align the interest between the shareholders (who own the company) and the CEO. It’s as simple as that.
Why does Tim Cook need an incentive? It seems like he's plenty motivated already and there's very little chance he might leave for a different position.
Because otherwise he might decide that Apple’s share price doesn’t matter to him and then Apple shareholders would be sad or mad when it doesn’t go up. Aligning interests is a best way to get the outcome you want from any person.
Berkshire Hathaway owns a massive amount of Apple and they help appoint/vote members to Apple’s Board of Directors who influence the CEO. Warren Buffett is likely a very happy man with the way Apple performed and I doubt he is concerned about another man becoming super wealthy as long as they become wealthy together <3. I’m sure that’s the whole point.
Berkshire Hathaway owns a massive amount of Apple and they help appoint/vote members to Apple’s Board of Directors who influence the CEO. Warren Buffett is likely a very happy man with the way Apple performed and I doubt he is concerned about another man becoming super wealthy as long as they become wealthy together <3. I’m sure that’s the whole point.
This is a reward for past performance, not an incentive for future performance.
I’m sure that Tim Cook was already extremely wealthy prior to this, to an extent that would exceed any capability to spend it on himself.
So now that he has an additional 750 million dollars, what is his incentive to continue performing?
He needs another 750 million dollars? For what? Is he supposed to be excited that he might receive some other ridiculous sum of money for which he has no realistic use?
I’m sure that Tim Cook was already extremely wealthy prior to this, to an extent that would exceed any capability to spend it on himself.
So now that he has an additional 750 million dollars, what is his incentive to continue performing?
He needs another 750 million dollars? For what? Is he supposed to be excited that he might receive some other ridiculous sum of money for which he has no realistic use?
No, this share plan was decided years ago around the time Steve Jobs died. Apple’s outlook wasn’t so clear then.
What do you mean by 'no'? That agrees with the statement that this is a reward for past performance and I don't see how that is relevant to my other statements.
> “This is a reward for past performance, not an incentive for future performance.”
It _was_ an incentive for future performance. The shares for this reward had already been set aside years in advance incase he hit his share price targets —- when they were worth much much less.
It _was_ an incentive for future performance. The shares for this reward had already been set aside years in advance incase he hit his share price targets —- when they were worth much much less.
I just simply cannot agree with anyone who believes that 10 years of work is worth $750 million. Even if the thinking is that doing the correct decitions is worth much more to the company, I will still just simply refuse to accept that this level of compensation is right on the larger context of human society.
While this level of pay definitely needs to be scrutinized, and I personally am not sure that Mr. Cook is worth quite that, it is actually possible that people could be worth that much.
At the very upper margins of highly effective systems, there are some incredibly amazing people: talented, intelligent, workaholic, literally decades of accumulated experience across sectors, relationships, and enough status to be able to lead such an organization.
Cook is up at 5 doing emails, and has been probably for the last 40 years.
Some of these guys are basically 'High Tech Monks' - they have not much concept of an identity outside the bubble of their careers - that's how much they've dedicated.
Assuming that Apple 'creates value for the world' - and on the whole this is probably true, the CEO of a company is going to have considerable influence, and just a few points one way or the other and it becomes clear.
While there are a large number of people in the world who could eventually be moulded into a guy like Cook ... there are very, very few people with 'all the right stuff' so that they could feasibly do his job really well.
That said, Apple's revenue comes from immense market power, there are other entities who do incredible work on that level but work in systems without the power to extract wealth and so are paid less.
One interesting example would be the White House and their staff. By any regular market standards they are vastly underpaid for the level of work they do, but because it's civic work, then their comp structure is designed from a different philosophy.
On the whole I think he's probably overcomped, but the average CEO in America actually doesn't make that much given the dedication and risk. The pay seems high because it's tilted towards the huge paying people at the helm of bigger companies.
At the very upper margins of highly effective systems, there are some incredibly amazing people: talented, intelligent, workaholic, literally decades of accumulated experience across sectors, relationships, and enough status to be able to lead such an organization.
Cook is up at 5 doing emails, and has been probably for the last 40 years.
Some of these guys are basically 'High Tech Monks' - they have not much concept of an identity outside the bubble of their careers - that's how much they've dedicated.
Assuming that Apple 'creates value for the world' - and on the whole this is probably true, the CEO of a company is going to have considerable influence, and just a few points one way or the other and it becomes clear.
While there are a large number of people in the world who could eventually be moulded into a guy like Cook ... there are very, very few people with 'all the right stuff' so that they could feasibly do his job really well.
That said, Apple's revenue comes from immense market power, there are other entities who do incredible work on that level but work in systems without the power to extract wealth and so are paid less.
One interesting example would be the White House and their staff. By any regular market standards they are vastly underpaid for the level of work they do, but because it's civic work, then their comp structure is designed from a different philosophy.
On the whole I think he's probably overcomped, but the average CEO in America actually doesn't make that much given the dedication and risk. The pay seems high because it's tilted towards the huge paying people at the helm of bigger companies.
Why not. Efficient companies create value out of nothing, certainly it is better for society than the counterfactual of them not creating value.
Good for him. Pretty cool to see especially given that paying him these shares was agreed 10 years ago and Apple stock has crushed it since then.
It's kind of weird to see some other comments attacking rich people just because they're rich, or completely misunderstanding the role of a CEO.
It's kind of weird to see some other comments attacking rich people just because they're rich, or completely misunderstanding the role of a CEO.
The weirdness to me is judging whether the ideas expressed across this thread are altruistic or just garden variety envy. Maybe the answer is “both/and” depending on one’s perspective.
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Better than Mozilla CEO getting a raise while Firefox market share has started tanking.
Perhaps it's takes a certain breed of people, but I'm not sure what I would DO with $750m. Buy a super-yacht I guess? Invest the money and make 10x more of it? But then what?
We've seen the new space race, but that domain seems crowded at the moment.
Use the money to cure cancer or other global health problems? Wealthy people don't tend to spend their money like that (Bill Gates being an exception). Why is this?
Buy influence and dictate politicians in backroom deals? Seems pretty cynical, but a possibility.
We've seen the new space race, but that domain seems crowded at the moment.
Use the money to cure cancer or other global health problems? Wealthy people don't tend to spend their money like that (Bill Gates being an exception). Why is this?
Buy influence and dictate politicians in backroom deals? Seems pretty cynical, but a possibility.
If I had $750m (or any more sizable wealth really, even 10m would be enough for where I live), would be to improve wealth inequality from the roots via the boring and slow route. Better education for children (equipment, teachers, etc), regular food on the table (big problem for many people), counselings and medicine for abusive parents.
Second best thing IMO would be to start some business which is sustainable and doing some social good. For example making e-readers and cheap e-books for the aforementioned children such that their parents can actually buy them. Side note: e-readers are discounted even today (selling at loss) and most money comes from e-Book sales.
Second best thing IMO would be to start some business which is sustainable and doing some social good. For example making e-readers and cheap e-books for the aforementioned children such that their parents can actually buy them. Side note: e-readers are discounted even today (selling at loss) and most money comes from e-Book sales.
No matter how big is Apple is today, $750m is an obscene amount of money. Don't understand people that can justify that.
> Don't understand people that can justify that.
well, the owners of apple (the shareholders, via the board) decided that it is justifiable, and fair. Other people, unrelated to this commercial agreement between Cook and apple, have no real say. Nor should they.
well, the owners of apple (the shareholders, via the board) decided that it is justifiable, and fair. Other people, unrelated to this commercial agreement between Cook and apple, have no real say. Nor should they.
I think the broader society does always have a say into the private agreements of individual entities and corporations. This is called labor law. So technically, they do have a say. Of course I highly doubt that society would be willing to pass a labor law to limit the bonus of CEOs. But I don’t think that’s because society doesn’t have a say; I think that’s because society broadly doesn’t consider this objectionable enough to forbid.
IMHO it does matter how big Apple is today, because that's the appropriate context, that's the size of the pie that's being divided and the size of value creation for which he's being compensated. The payout is less than 0.05% of the value increase of Apple under Cook's leadership. Many other people played a hand in it, but it seems to me quite plausible to attribute at least 1/1000th of that growth to Tim Cook personally.
If his compensation is tied to the market value of Apple, of course it matters how big Apple is. If it were worth $5 trillion today, his compensation would have been double.
Relevant (to me): This is due to the deal Apple made with Tim a decade ago. I took a screenshot of HN the day Jobs died. I also have the WSJ from that day, but it's buried in a box somewhere.
https://ibb.co/g66DKhx
https://ibb.co/g66DKhx
How many of the grumpy “he shouldn’t be paid that much” comments were written on an iPhone?
Bingo. All of Apple's share price and consequently of Tim Cook's income here comes from people paying money to Apple and boosting the earnings. Don't like Tim Cook earning a lot of money => Don't buy any Apple products or services. Simple as that.
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Isn't this taxes at 40%+ when this is paid?
off-topic
What people exactly do with their billions of dollar in their 60s or 70s?
Is it worth working whole life to get a lots of game coin in the end of life?
How about working till 40 to earn enough money for the rest the of life?
Is it worth working whole life to get a lots of game coin in the end of life?
How about working till 40 to earn enough money for the rest the of life?
I can't speak for him, but I would highly doubt that his motivation was money. Fulfilment from achieving success cannot be narrowed down to money only.
I also don't think age has anything to do with the desire for success.
I also don't think age has anything to do with the desire for success.
did apple create these shares or did they buy them?
Look who’s Cooking
When did HN start hating on people like Tim Cook instead of having the arrogance and the self-confidence to think that someday you'd be making that sort of coin?
Hokusai(7)
I feel bad for all those Uyghur slaves toiling in Apple's supply chains. But if it makes Tim even slightly wealthier, it is all worth it. :D
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And he will pay no taxes on it I estimate.
Edgy but this is a simple taxable situation and downright impossible to avoid taxes on it. California is going to make a nice little amount of money here as is the IRS.
You estimate wrong.
Top 1 percent of earners (with incomes over $540,009) pay over 40 percent of all income taxes.
Top 1 percent of earners (with incomes over $540,009) pay over 40 percent of all income taxes.
That is penis rocket money right there.
I know that most of you will not understand, but every problem that I have with Apple started in the moment when this guy become CEO.
I am utterly disgusted. More than two weeks no adequate response over CSAM and "scanning" of all devices and already media is pushing the "new shiny things are coming" and PR for the Tim Apple.
This is sickness on whole new level. Just sayin.
I am utterly disgusted. More than two weeks no adequate response over CSAM and "scanning" of all devices and already media is pushing the "new shiny things are coming" and PR for the Tim Apple.
This is sickness on whole new level. Just sayin.
This is obscene. He didn't make any iPhone or other device nor worked behind the counter, yet he takes the money that could have been redistributed among the workers.
Despicable man.
The money that could have been redistributed among the shareholders - in the absence of this agreement, it would have been dividends or company cash i.e. share price, not redistribution to other workers. And it's not something that Cook took, it's something that was given to him 10 years ago as part of his compensation package (and at the share prices of that time the stock grant would be $75m so $7.5m per year which doesn't seem that outrageous to me).
The money was distributed among the workers - which include both people behind the counter and executives like Cook - as the shareholders chose and agreed. Arguably they chose to allocate it like they did (which workers to incentivize more and which less) because they consider that it maximizes their own profit by attracting good workers and motivating them, and they chose to offer Cook a deal that (especially in retrospect) looks very lucrative. Perhaps it was worth it and perhaps it's just gifting him undeserved money - but in any case it's their right to do as they wish even if they spend their money stupidly and randomly give it to someone and not someone else, since all of it (i.e. Apple, it's assets and profits and the value created) belongs to the shareholders, and workers - both people behind the counter and people like Cook - get only what they agreed with the company and thus it's owners/shareholders.
The money was distributed among the workers - which include both people behind the counter and executives like Cook - as the shareholders chose and agreed. Arguably they chose to allocate it like they did (which workers to incentivize more and which less) because they consider that it maximizes their own profit by attracting good workers and motivating them, and they chose to offer Cook a deal that (especially in retrospect) looks very lucrative. Perhaps it was worth it and perhaps it's just gifting him undeserved money - but in any case it's their right to do as they wish even if they spend their money stupidly and randomly give it to someone and not someone else, since all of it (i.e. Apple, it's assets and profits and the value created) belongs to the shareholders, and workers - both people behind the counter and people like Cook - get only what they agreed with the company and thus it's owners/shareholders.
This "despicable man" is the CEO who blasted a board member for suggesting that he should prioritise profitability over sustainability.
https://fortune.com/2014/03/01/apples-tim-cook-picks-a-fight...
https://fortune.com/2014/03/01/apples-tim-cook-picks-a-fight...
So work is only working behind the counter for you?
I am saying his work is not worth this much. He is only able to get this money off the workers because of his position.
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If Apple had not roughly 10x'd in value over the last decade this would be a ~75m payout, and that's not even accounting for the fact that a lot of this was likely tied to increasing the share price.
It's an obscene amount of money, but it's not today's Apple giving Tim Cook $750m, it's 2011's Apple agreeing to give him 5m shares if he did well.
Edit: Misread the article, "191.83% over the last three years"!