Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#31

Post by colept » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:50 PM UTC

cust0m wrote: post #18

rackforms wrote: post #11

How is Tim Cook still CEO of Apple? Forget sales for a moment and just consider the damage Apple's brand is suffering. $300 books, headphone jacks, unreliable cloud services, missed product launches. In may ways Apples becoming the butt of jokes, a symbol of ignorance. Apple's in total disarray right now and the most loyal followers, myself included, are either jumping ship or seriously considering. The mistakes bein…

I don't understand why I can't plug the lightning headphone that comes with my brand new apple phone in my brand new apple notebook.

That fine line between Courage and Cowardice. Enough courage to make you buy a product (bluetooth headphones) to fully make use of the phone that most of us upgrade, but not enough courage to use it with the personal computer that only some of us upgrade.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#32

Post by nnain » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:50 PM UTC

Looking at the last two years, it's difficult to be excited about this year's Apple Events. He did well in his role in Operations; but guess Apple needs someone from Products/Design division with a refreshing future vision.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#33

Post by jonknee » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:53 PM UTC

rackforms wrote: post #11

How is Tim Cook still CEO of Apple? Forget sales for a moment and just consider the damage Apple's brand is suffering. $300 books, headphone jacks, unreliable cloud services, missed product launches. In may ways Apples becoming the butt of jokes, a symbol of ignorance. Apple's in total disarray right now and the most loyal followers, myself included, are either jumping ship or seriously considering. The mistakes bein…

Oh how quickly the Steve Jobs era is forgotten. Remember the white iPhone 4 that was delayed almost a year after Steve announced it? Or when they changed from the 30 pin to Lightning? Or when they dumped the floppy and optical drive?

Apple is focused on the iPhone because that's where almost all their profits come from. It's annoying for us long time Mac users, but even Steve was focused on iOS devices when he died.

Update: also Antenna Gate, the fact that Steve didn't want any third party apps on iOS, the G4 Cube, iPod Hi-Fi, MobileMe (if you think their cloud services are a mess now...), iTunes Ping, etc etc. The list goes on.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#34

Post by JustSomeNobody » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:53 PM UTC

Domenic_S wrote: post #20

hartator wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am pretty sure Tim Cook doesn't care.

You missed the point. Getting 100% or 120% of your bonus target says, "you're an awesome leader and people should respect you". Getting 89.5% says "get your life together". It's about pride and bragging rights. Nobody wants to go down in history as the one who led apple's implosion.

I am pretty sure Tim Cook doesn't care.

He is still the CEO of Apple.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#35

Post by pyrophane » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:54 PM UTC

rackforms wrote: post #24

usaphp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first reason for him being a bad CEO is a $300 book. A lot of companies have these type of books which are also costly, I don't think it's a good idea to start argument about him being a bad CEO with a book example.

It's perception I'm talking about, the real damage being done by releasing this type of tone-deaf product at the same time good, hardworking and long-time users can no longer afford their products.

That book is really more about Jony Ive's legacy as a designer than anything else. It is mostly going to be appearing in libraries and the offices of other designers, not on people's coffee tables.

I think the "perception" you are talking about is just from gossipy tech blogs and people on Internet forums who have made a hobby out of getting upset about things like this.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#36

Post by Retric » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:54 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #28

jameskegel wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's a fine example, and makes a succinct point.

What point does it make? I am not interested in buying the book, but to me it suggests that Apple highly values design and its design team. I think the book is something Steve Jobs would have loved.

Would have loved, Sure. Would have done, No.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#37

Post by stupidcar » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:55 PM UTC

rackforms wrote: post #11

How is Tim Cook still CEO of Apple? Forget sales for a moment and just consider the damage Apple's brand is suffering. $300 books, headphone jacks, unreliable cloud services, missed product launches. In may ways Apples becoming the butt of jokes, a symbol of ignorance. Apple's in total disarray right now and the most loyal followers, myself included, are either jumping ship or seriously considering. The mistakes bein…

The company you say is in "total disarray" still made $45.7bn in profit in 2016, and grew its share price by 10%. Those are the facts.

Outside of the technology bubble, most people don't know or care about many of the issues you cited, or what "loyal followers" on internet forums think. Major investors, who are the only people who could force Cook out, care about the numbers. And while Apple's revenue declined this year, it's still insanely good by any reasonable, and unreasonable, measure. Plus, it comes on the back of many years of growth, much of which was delivered under Cook's leadership.

If there's a continued decline of revenue and profits, then you might see Cook forced out in a couple of years, but to ask why he hasn't been forced out already only demonstrates a total lack of understanding of how business works.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#38

Post by hcoyote » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:56 PM UTC

pducks32 wrote: post #19

jameskegel wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's a fine example, and makes a succinct point.

It's a hobby project that keeps designers feel valued and most companies do it. Some release it, some don't. But they all do it.

Honestly, this cost is on par with other book-based photographic collections from small, bespoke printing companies (Such as Lodima Press). The real question is how many copies did they run. This will determine whether or not the cost is justified for the value you get from it.

As an example, a few years ago, I purchased a copy of Edward Weston's "Life Work" from Lodima when it was released. I think I paid ~$150 for it. They're now selling it for $1000 per copy because they have a limited number left.

If Apple printed thousands and thousands of these, then I doubt the cost is justified. But if it was a limited run, say less than a few thousand? Seems appropriate to me.

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#39

Post by legohead » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:56 PM UTC

rackforms wrote: post #11

How is Tim Cook still CEO of Apple? Forget sales for a moment and just consider the damage Apple's brand is suffering. $300 books, headphone jacks, unreliable cloud services, missed product launches. In may ways Apples becoming the butt of jokes, a symbol of ignorance. Apple's in total disarray right now and the most loyal followers, myself included, are either jumping ship or seriously considering. The mistakes bein…

Next upgrade I'm moving to MS Surface or something similar. The dongle thing did it for me, which is pretty sad.

I was also a bit surprised to find out that 95% of the gaming market is still on PC [1]. Guess I was a disillusioned Mac user, but I thought Mac was bigger in games.

[1] http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Re: Apple cuts Tim Cook's pay 15% for missing sales goals

#40

Post by shostack » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 5:58 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #30

maxxxxx wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company gives out bonuses in the range of 10%. I really appreciate that but it's not large enough for me to change my work. It probably makes me stay longer with the company. If my bonus was a multiple of my salary I would probably think more about increasing the bonus at any cost.

Investment banker then. Isn't normal bonus 2x salary? I would hate to rely so much on bonus. You can't count a mortgage payment on it. Shouldn't really count retirement on it.

I have a relative that is an ibanker. His bonus was a little more than his base, but he's still somewhat junior (only a couple years in).

He basically lives off his salary and is building up a reserve from the bonuses that he will then plan to spend in a controlled fashion. The general sentiment of that industry though seems to be "you should earn enough to not care about money, and if you don't you probably aren't good enough to deserve to be a banker."