Tim Cook to be paid $47mn as Apple’s executive chair

Apple has awarded Tim Cook a pay deal approaching that of his successor John Ternus, signalling that the departing chief executive will continue to play a big role in his new position as executive chair.

Cook’s pay package will total $47mn, Apple said as he assumed his new role on Tuesday. He will take a roughly 40 per cent pay cut from the roughly $74mn he was paid in the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years.

Ternus’s base salary has meanwhile been increased to $3mn with a target annual equity award of $55mn in the company’s 2027 fiscal year if performance criteria are met, the company said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Cook’s annual salary has been set at $2mn, with $45mn in planned equity.

Cook’s handover to Ternus on Tuesday marks only the second change in chief executive for Apple this century.

During his 15-year tenure, Cook has forged a close relationship with Washington and Beijing and become a globally recognisable figure, helping the $4.75tn tech giant navigate the balancing act between being both one of America’s biggest companies and heavily reliant on manufacturing in China.

The “executive chair” role was created for Cook, with longtime non-executive board chair Arthur Levinson becoming lead independent director on Tuesday. Levinson was paid just $557,231 for the 2025 fiscal year.

Apple has previously said Cook will “assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world”.

Wall Street analysts took the announcement as confirming that Cook will continue to act more like an executive than an arm’s-length board member. His large pay deal provides another indication of the scale of the new job.

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Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran and hardware engineer, marked his first day on Tuesday with a note to employees thanking Cook and expressing gratitude that he would stay on as executive chair.

“I’m honoured to be stepping into this role at what is truly the greatest company in the world, and I am so excited about everything we have in store,” Ternus said in a message seen by the FT.

Ternus’s first major public outing as chief executive will be next Wednesday at Apple’s annual iPhone launch event in Cupertino, where the company is expected to unveil a new foldable smartphone.

In his message to staff, Ternus teased a “huge” and “phenomenal” launch next week, adding that he was excited about “the incredible products already in the works and the ones we haven’t even imagined yet”.

The pay deal is at the upper end of compensation for an executive chair of a major US company. Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman was awarded $27mn in 2024 when he handed over to his successor, Ted Pick, who got $34mn. Mastercard’s chief executive Ajay Banga took a similar 37 per cent pay cut to $17mn when he stepped down at the end of 2020.

Apple’s shares closed up about 2.5 per cent on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by John Foley