Connect with us

Published

on

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks during a “First Tool-In” ceremony at the TSMC facility under construction in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.

Caitlin O’Hara | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook will receive a pay cut in 2023 to $49 million in total compensation, the company said in a filing with the SEC.

Cook requested the change, Apple said in the filing, following a shareholder vote on his pay package. The company reduced the number of restricted stock units Cook would receive if he retires before 2026.

related investing news

Pro Picks: Watch all of Wednesday's big stock calls on CNBC

CNBC Pro

In 2022, Cook made just under $83 million in stock awards, $12 million in incentives, and $3 million in salary. He also got benefits including retirement plan contributions, security, personal air travel, and over $46,000 in vacation cash-out.

Apple’s compensation committee said that it made the change in response to last year’s say-on-pay vote, in which 64% of shareholders approved of Cook’s compensation, down from 95% that approved it for Apple’s 2020 fiscal year.

Still, Apple’s board praised Cook’s performance, and said it has confidence in the CEO’s long-term strategic decisions.

Executive compensation has come under increasing pressure from institutional shareholders of late. Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that Apple shareholders vote against Cook’s pay package at last year’s annual meeting.

The compensation committee, comprised of Art Levinson, Al Gore, and Andrea Jung, said it reached out to institutional shareholders to gauge how they felt about Cook’s pay.

“Based on these important conversations, we have made changes to the size and structure of Tim’s 2023 compensation,” the committee wrote.

More alterations could be in store.

“Taking into consideration Apple’s comparative size, scope, and performance, the Compensation Committee also intends to position Mr. Cook’s annual target compensation between the 80th and 90th percentiles relative to our primary peer group for future years,” the committee said.

Cook is paid mostly in restricted stock units. The number of actual shares of Apple stock that Cook vests depends on Apple’s performance versus the S&P 500. Apple’s stock has done well enough that Cook typically vests the maximum amount.

Since Cook took over as CEO in 2011, Apple stock has returned 1,212% versus 209% for the S&P 500, Apple said.

In addition to reducing the total target, 75% of Cook’s vesting shares will be tied to Apple’s stock performance in 2023, instead of 50%.

Apple announced a stock grant for Cook in September 2020 running through 2025. Cook received it on the first day of Apple’s fiscal 2021, which started at the end of September. When it was approved, Cook’s stock grant would have given him 1 million shares worth about $114 million at the time if Apple were to hit all its targets.

Cook’s previous stock grant from 2011 ended up being worth more than $900 million at Apple’s September 2020 share price.

Cook said in 2015 that he plans to donate his fortune to charity.

WATCH: Apple sees slowing growth in app store performance

Apple sees slowing growth in app store performance

Continue Reading

Technology

Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay kiss-cam controversy

Published

on

By

Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay kiss-cam controversy

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on October 12, 2021 in London, England.

Simone Joyner | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Astronomer, the technology company that faced backlash after its CEO was allegedly caught in an affair at a Coldplay concert, said the CEO has resigned, the company announced Saturday.

“Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted,” the company said in a statement. “The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”

Byron was shown on a big screen at a Coldplay concert on Wednesday with his arms around the company’s chief people officer, Kristin Cabot. Byron, who is married with children, immediately hid when the couple was shown on screen. Lead singer Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” A concert attendee’s video of the affair went viral.

In May, Astronomer announced a $93 million investment round led by Bain Ventures and other investors, including Salesforce Ventures.

Byron’s resignation comes after Astronomer said Friday that it had launched a “formal investigation” into the matter, and the CEO was placed on administrative leave.

“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” the company said in its Saturday statement. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”

Continue Reading

Technology

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sells an additional $12.94 million worth of shares

Published

on

By

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sells an additional .94 million worth of shares

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia Corp., speaks during a news conference in Taipei on May 21, 2025.

I-hwa Cheng | Afp | Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sold 75,000 shares on Friday, valued at about $12.94 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Friday’s sale is part of a plan adopted in March for Huang to sell up to 6 million shares of the leading artificial intelligence company. Earlier this week, Huang sold 225,000 shares of the chipmaker, totaling about $37 million, according to a separate SEC filing. The CEO began trading stock per the plan last month.

Surging demand for AI and the graphics processing units that power large language models has significantly boosted Huang’s net worth and pushed Nvidia’s market capitalization beyond $4 trillion, making it the world’s most valuable company.

Nvidia announced this week that it expects to resume sales of its H20 chips to China soon, following signals from the Trump administration that it would approve export licenses. Earlier this year, U.S. officials had stated that Nvidia would require special permission to ship the chips, which are specifically designed for the Chinese market.

“The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted, and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Huang said during a news conference on Wednesday in Beijing that he wants to sell chips more advanced than the H20 to China at some point.

Continue Reading

Technology

Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish files to go public on NYSE

Published

on

By

Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish files to go public on NYSE

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, holds hundred dollar bills as he speaks during the Bitcoin 2022 Conference at Miami Beach Convention Center on April 7, 2022 in Miami, Florida.

Marco Bello | Getty Images

The Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital asset firm to head for the public market.

The company, led by CEO Tom Farley, a veteran of the finance industry and former president of the New York Stock Exchange, said it plans to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “BLSH.”

A spinout of Block.one, Bullish started with an initial investment from backers including Thiel’s Founders Fund and Thiel Capital, along with Nomura, Mike Novogratz and others. Bullish acquired crypto news site CoinDesk in 2023.

“In the first quarter of 2025, Bullish exchange executed over $2.5 billion in average daily volume, ranking in the top five exchanges by spot volume for Bitcoin and Ether,” the company said on its website. The prospectus listed top competitors as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.

The IPO filing says that as of March 31, the total trading volume since launch has exceeded $1.25 trillion.

Read more CNBC tech news

The filing is another significant step for the cryptocurrency industry, which has fought for years to convince institutions to embrace digital assets as legitimate investments.

It’s already been a big year on the market for crypto offerings, highlighted by stablecoin issuer Circle, which has jumped more than sevenfold since its IPO in June. Etoro, an online trading platform that includes services for crypto investors, debuted in May.

Novogratz‘s crypto firm Galaxy Digital started trading on the Nasdaq in May, moving its listing from the Toronto Stock Exchange. And in June, Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange and custodian founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, confidentially filed for an IPO in the U.S.

Meanwhile, investors continue to flock to bitcoin. The digital currency is trading at over $117,000, up from about $94,000 at the start of the year.

President Donald Trump, on Friday, signed the GENIUS Act into law — a set of regulations that establish some initial consumer protections around stablecoins, which are tied to assets like the U.S. dollar with the intent of reducing price volatility associated with many cryptocurrencies.

In its filing with the SEC, Bullish says its mission is partly to “drive the adoption of stablecoins, digital assets, and blockchain technology.”

Crypto industry players, including Thiel, Elon Musk, and President Trump’s AI and Crypto czar David Sacks spent heavily to re-elect Trump and have pushed for legislation that legitimizes digital assets and exchanges.

WATCH: Trump’s crypto plan

Trump's crypto reserve plan is 'incredibly bullish' for crypto as a whole, asset manager says

Continue Reading

Trending