Apple, the world's most valuable company for the past decade (though it ceded the throne to Microsoft on Friday), will have a board of four men and four women at next month's shareholder meeting. If, as is foreseeable, shareholders approve the proposal, the company founded by Steve Jobs will be the only one of the major technology companies (including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft, among others) where there will be as many people of all genders in the company administrative authority.
The company led by Tim Cook is taking a big leap forward, with twice as many men as women on the board. At the age of 75, former US Vice President Al Gore (Apple board member since 2003) and former Boeing CFO James Bell, who had been on the board since 2015, are leaving their positions.
Apple has proposed the appointment of Wanda Austin, 69, the former CEO of Aerospace Corporation, with decades of experience in science and technology and a significant track record in driving innovation and shaping corporate strategies, the company highlights. “Wanda has spent decades advancing technology on behalf of humanity, and we are pleased to welcome her to Apple’s Board of Directors,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO. “She is an exceptional leader and her invaluable experience and knowledge will support our mission to leave the world better than we found it,” he added.
With the founding of Wanda Austin, Apple's board of directors consists of eight people, four men and four women. Art Levinson, 73, is non-executive chairman. He is CEO of healthcare company Calico and previously led Genentech in the same sector. He has been on the board since 2000. Tim Cook, 63, is CEO and the company's first managing director. He succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011. He was previously the group's chief operating officer, a position he held since 2005. Also on the board is Alex Gorsky, 63, who was CEO and Chairman of Johnson & Johnson until January 2023. He is also a director of JPMorgan and IBM and has been on the board of Apple since 2001.
The fourth man is Ron Sugar, for whom the company has made an exception, even though he has also turned 75, the normal retirement age for directors. Apple says Sugar plays an important technical role as chair of the audit committee and also brings leadership experience as the former president and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corporation, a global security company. In addition, Apple says he has financial knowledge, experience in global operations, an understanding of advanced technology, experience in government relations and public policy, and a global business perspective. He is a director of Amgen and Uber and was also a director of Chevron.
Wanda Austin, the 69-year-old African American woman now named director, serves on the boards of Chevron and Amgen. He joins Andrea Jung on the board, 65 years old who was CEO of Avon and is now a director of Unilever, Wayfair and Rockefeller Capital Management. She has been on Apple's board since 2008. Since 2014, Sue Wagner, 62, has been co-founder of the asset management giant BlackRock, of which she was vice president from January 2006 until her retirement in July 2012, and has been a director since 2014. She was director of operations and head of corporate strategy at BlackRock and headed the alternative investments division and international customer business. She remains a director of BlackRock and is also a director of listed Samsara. The previous woman to join the council before Austin was Mónica Lozano, 67, with a long career in media. She served as President of the Board of Directors of US Hispanic Media, the parent company of ImpreMedia, and held various positions within that group, including Director of La Opinión de Los Ángeles. Latina, she is a director of Bank of America and Target and has been on the Apple board since 2021.
There are seven men and five women on Microsoft's board, just like Amazon; At Meta there are five men and four women, and at Alphabet, which owns Google, there are eight men and just three women, according to each company's recent board nominations before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. emerges. for its acronym in English).
Apple also has equal representation among non-consultant executives in its leadership. The four most prominent are the finance director Luca Maestri; Head of Retail, Deirdre O'Brien; legal manager Kate Adams and operations manager Jeff Williams. Each of them earned just under $27 million (almost €25 million at the current exchange rate) in the 2023 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, in line with the remuneration of the two previous years.
Cook is increasing his salary this year
In addition, Tim Cook himself made the announced reduction in his salary last year. After finally exceeding targets, Apple's CEO earned $63.2 million in fiscal 2023, 36.4% less than $99.4 million in 2022. Cook has $3.28 million -dollars in his portfolio of Apple shares worth about $610 million, not counting options and deferred shares. Stock awards with expiration dates.
After some protests and pressure from shareholders over his high compensation, Cook agreed to take a drastic cut from his target or reference compensation for 2023, going from $84 million in 2022 to $49 million in 2023, and the stock has been strong increased, the decline was somewhat less noticeable.
Now Apple's compensation commission is backtracking and significantly increasing its CEO's reference compensation for this year to $59 million, up 20.4%. The salary remains at three million dollars and the reference cash bonus at another six million (it can be up to 12 million), but the share price increases from 40 to 50 million dollars, an increase of 25%. There are also other items (pensions, vacations, security, private trips on the company plane…), which last year, for example, amounted to $2.5 million.
Actual compensation will depend on goals achieved and price performance, which will determine the cash bonus and equity awards that will take effect.
Artificial intelligence
Among the proposals submitted to the Board of Directors for consideration are some from shareholders, which the Board of Directors recommends rejecting. One of them calls for more transparency in the use of artificial intelligence. Calls on Apple to produce a report on the company's use of artificial intelligence in its business operations. It is also suggested that you disclose any ethical policies the company has adopted regarding the company's use of AI technology. “This report will be made publicly available to the Company’s shareholders on the Company’s website, prepared at a reasonable cost, and will not contain any information that is proprietary, privileged, or in violation of any contractual obligations,” the proposal states.
Apple's board calls for a no vote: “We are committed to responsibly evolving our products and services that use AI, we have a robust approach to incorporating ethical considerations into all of our business operations, and we already prioritize resources and transparency over ours.” “Artificial intelligence approach ready.” Intelligence and machine learning,” he says in his justification. “The scope of the requested report is extremely broad and could include disclosure of strategic plans and initiatives that adversely affect our competitive position and would be premature in this evolving area,” he added.
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