By News Staff, Insanely Great Mac Wednesday, January 19, 2000 17:39:42 (-0500
GMT) Wednesday, Apple announced compensation for the company's
now officially CEO, Steve Jobs. To date, Jobs' only
compensation since rejoining Apple has been a $1/year
salary. In a one-time charge, Jobs' compensation totaled $90
million. According to Apple CFO, Fred Anderson, this is the one
and only planned compensation package for Jobs. In the
package, Jobs will receive ten million shares of Apple stock
and a Gulfstream V airplane. The stock options were recently
granted at the then market price. Steve Jobs will continue
to receive an annual salary of $1. "Apple's market cap has risen from less than $2 billion
to over $16 billion under Steve's leadership since his
return to the Company two and a half years ago," said Apple
Board member Ed Woolard. "Steve has taken no compensation
thus far, and we are therefore delighted to give him this
airplane in appreciation of the great job he has done for
our shareholders during this period." Also Wednesday, Apple announced FYQ1 results of $183
million based on $2.34 billion in revenue. [See
related article] • Aside Last week, I made some comments about Steve Jobs' recent
bonus from Apple. Since then, there's been plenty of
commentary about the excessiveness of Jobs' compensation for
his time at Apple. I'd like to add some perspective to the
subject. Jobs received two items for compensation as point man at
Apple. There was of course a jet airplane and the 10 million
stock options. While buying a jet for someone is a little
strange, in this case I think it's pretty appropriate.
Ironically, it's appropriate because of the stock options.
Jobs has been quoted many times saying that he returned
to Apple not to make another fortune. Apple made him rich
once, and that appears to be enough for him. Now it's important to note that these are 10 million
stock options. This means that into the future, he can buy
stock at a previously set price. So say if Apple's stock
rises $1 above the option price, then he theoretically has
made $10 million from his options. So while on paper Jobs
may have padded his personal wealth, he doesn't actually get
the money until decides to use the options. So what do you get for the man who has everything and
doesn't want money? Well an airplane, silly. So, Jobs now has a $40 million jet, which he will pay to
use and maintain. As far as I'm concerned, until Jobs
actually uses his options, his compensation is just a plane.
Case in point: A few months back I visited a casino and took
a $1 chip home with me as a souvenir. Could it not be
possible that Jobs may just leave Apple without cashing in
all of his chips? I know it's hard to believe when greed
runs the world...
I had to add the following - also from
Insanely Great Mac - as I think it is not only well written,
but also makes a great point. Enjoy! Ed.