Apple Executives Dominate Highest-Paid List Among S&P 500 Companies

Bloomberg Businesweek reports that a survey of executive compensation at Standard & Poor's 500 companies for fiscal 2012 shows four Apple executives holding down the second, third, fourth, and fifth slots behind Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. The group of Apple executives, which does not include CEO Tim Cook, benefited from a massive stock grant shortly after the death of Steve Jobs, with the grants vesting in equal parts in 2013 and 2016 as incentives to keep the executives at the company.

Four of the five highest-paid employees at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies aren’t chief executive officers. They’re Apple Inc. senior lieutenants receiving compensation packages designed to keep management intact in an increasingly competitive industry.

The four executives are Bob Mansfield, Bruce Sewell, Jeffrey Williams and Peter Oppenheimer, according to fiscal 2012 compensation figures for top earners filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. About 80 percent of S&P 500 companies had submitted their numbers as of April 12.

The four Apple executives each received 150,000 shares as part of their grants, with the shares worth approximately $64 million each at today's stock price. Salary, bonuses, and other compensation pushed 2012 totals for Sewell, Williams, and Oppenheimer close to $70 million. Mansfield topped the group of Apple executives with total compensation of $85.5 million, as he received accelerated vesting of shares as an incentive to remain at Apple after he had announced his retirement.

mansfield_oppenheimer_sewell_williams
Two other Apple executives saw major stock grants in November 2011, with marketing chief Phil Schiller receiving the same 150,000 restricted stock units as the other senior executives and Internet Software and Service head Eddy Cue receiving 100,000 units just two months after receiving another 100,000 units in recognition of his promotion to the senior vice president level. Schiller and Cue were not, however, included in Bloomberg Businessweek's rankings, as their total compensation is not publicly reported by Apple.

Cook ranked 1016th on this year's list with total compensation of $4.17 million, although he is benefiting from a previous award of one million restricted stock units made when he became CEO. Those units are worth $425 million at today's stock price, with half of the units vesting in 2016 and the remaining half vesting in 2021.

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Top Rated Comments

8281 Avatar
160 months ago
In b4 all of the liberal hippies who will come and say "no one deserves to make that much money!"

Ugh. I personally don't care what they make, but middle class compensation in the form of real wages has pretty much flatlined since the late 70s, even as productivity has skyrocketed. Trotting out the old "that's hippy talk" sort of undermines the legitimate discussion of why that's happened before it even starts.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agent OrangeZ Avatar
160 months ago
In b4 all of the liberal hippies who will come and say "no one deserves to make that much money!"
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NachoGrande Avatar
160 months ago
If they were execs in a bank or oil company there would be protest, but Apple, I guess that's okay :rolleyes:
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KdParker Avatar
160 months ago
In b4 all of the liberal hippies who will come and say "no one deserves to make that much money!"

Liberal hippies?

Seems odd that you would think liberals or hippies don't like money.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dysamoria Avatar
160 months ago
In b4 all of the liberal hippies who will come and say "no one deserves to make that much money!"

I'm glad you agree that no one deserves to make that much money.

The inflated "value" of executives is utter nonsense.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peace Avatar
160 months ago
Going by how much they make and what has come out of Cupertino this year so far I'd say there's one guy missing.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)