Apple Adjusts Stock Bonuses To Be Based on On Company Performance
The Committee intends for future stock awards to Apple executives officers to be performance-based and Cook will lead by example. However, though normal performance-based compensation normally has both an upside and downside, at his request, Cook’s award will solely have a downside component.
It’s a nice symbolic gesture, but that’s about it. Others have read far too deeply into this. Performance-based incentives have little effect on employees that already have enough money to last them the rest of their lives. Cook isn’t going on the breadline if iOS 7 turns out to be a flop. In regard to the future of Apple, as long as the top executives are at the company because they genuinely want to make great products that customers love, it doesn’t matter what bonus compensation they receive. In fact, running a company based on stock options is almost always unhealthy, in the long term.