Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 360 posts

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#141

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

chii wrote: post #66
Thaxll wrote: post #41

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.

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.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#142

Post by pavlov »

Aeolun wrote: post #115
eliaspro wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lol, you think the money is any less locked in Apple’s coffers? 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).

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#143

Post by jfroma »

beckman466 wrote: post #46

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…

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.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#144

Post by crispyambulance »

rglullis wrote: post #59
beckman466 wrote: post #46

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…

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?

> 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.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#145

Post by leesalminen »

siva7 wrote: post #78
beckman466 wrote: post #46

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…

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.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#146

Post by uuddlrlr »

mombul wrote: post #88
Aeolun wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#147

Post by gomox »

eliaspro wrote: post #95
vmurthy wrote: post #38

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 :)

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.

Taken out of circulation? The money will surely be invested into the economy where it will very much fund (profit motivated) initiatives.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#148

Post by ChrisKnott »

breakfastduck wrote: post #93
ChrisKnott wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Re: Apple chief executive Tim Cook gets $750m payout

#149

Post by Aeolun »

pavlov wrote: post #142
Aeolun wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, you think the money is any less locked in Apple’s coffers? 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 pay…

Yeah?

If people have money to spend on Apple stock they clearly don’t need it to survive.

Post reply on HN