Apple penalised CEO Tim Cook for the iPhone maker`s first sales slump in 15 years with a 15 per cent pay cut.
Cook still did extremely well, with a compensation package valued at $8.7 million for Apple`s fiscal year that ended on September 24, according to a regulatory filing made Friday. But the amount was down from nearly $10.3 million in the prior year.The Cupertino, California, company cited a downturn in Apple`s revenue and operating profit as the main reason it cut the pay of Cook and its other top executives.Apple`s revenue dropped 8 percent to $216 billion, while its operating profit declined 16 per cent to $60 billion. That was mainly because it sold fewer iPhones for the first time since the device came out in 2007.It also marked the first time that Apple`s annual revenue decreased since 2001, which was just before the company`s late co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPod. That digital music player set the stage for the iPhone and iPad.The iPhone triggered a revolution in mobile computing and became Apple`s biggest moneymaker, even as a wide range of device makers released competing products primarily running on Google`s free Android software. Most of the world`s smartphones are powered by Android, but the iPhone remains a popular high-priced status symbol.Even so, consumers are holding on to their existing iPhones for longer periods instead of upgrading to a newer model every year or two. That has raised investor concerns that Apple has become too dependent on the iPhone, a nagging worry that has been aggravated by the company`s inability to introduce another breakthrough product since Jobs` death in 2011.Cook, Jobs` anointed successor, had hoped Apple would have another huge hit with a smartwatch unveiled in 2014, but that device has only had moderate success.Apple`s regulatory filing revealed that the company was bracing for a sales drop last year, although not quite as steep as what occurred. The compensation committee for Apple`s board of directors had established a revenue goal of $224 billion for last year, which would have been a 4 percent decline from the previous year.The company expected sales to rebound during the holiday shopping season on hopes that consumers would be snapping up its latest iPhones, the 7 and 7 Plus. Apple will release its quarterly results that include the holidays later this month.Source: Economic Times