Apple's Cook Skips $75 Million Dividend Distribution -- Without Explanation

Tim Cook, Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO, must think the hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation he has earned since taking the chief executive position is enough. He will forgo dividend payments Apple gives to employees with restricted stock that has not vested, under a program recently announced by the world’s most valuable company.

In an 8K, the firm said:

The amendments provide that if the Company pays an ordinary cash dividend on its common stock, each award will be credited with an amount equal to the per-share cash dividend paid by the Company, multiplied by the total number of restricted stock units subject to the award that are outstanding immediately prior to the record date for such dividend.

At the end of the filing was this note:

At Mr. Cook’s request, none of his restricted stock units will participate in dividend equivalents. Assuming a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share over the vesting periods of his 1.125 million outstanding restricted stock units, Mr. Cook will forego approximately $75 million in dividend equivalent value.

Cook is not stupid, so he must be generous. Or he wants the company’s employees and investors to think that he, like everyone else in management, is only worth so much.

Douglas A. McIntyre