Wednesday, September 12, 2012 8:14:21 AM
Incentives
Steve Jobs made his money on the stock, not on salary, bonuses or other flimflam. If the stock went up, he made money. If it had gone down, he would have lost it.
And new CEO Tim Cook, the man who will be on stage Wednesday, is in the same boat.
On Aug. 24 of last year, when he took over from Jobs, Cook was granted a giant fistful of restricted Apple stock: 1 million shares.
That’s some incentive.
They had a face value of $380 million when he got them. In the year and three weeks since, he’s made another $285 million in paper gains on that stock alone.
Cook was already holding about 360,000 shares of restricted stock even before taking the helm. Bottom line? The man has made about $390 million on his Apple stock in the 55 weeks since taking over, and his stake is already worth more than $900 million.
No kidding. Just over a year ago, he was someone you’d never heard of. Now he’s nearly a billionaire, thanks to the iPhone, the iPad and the like.
How’s your portfolio done in the past year?
(If you’re curious, the 5.5 million Apple shares that the late Steve Jobs left in his estate have gained about $1.6 billion in value since he stepped down as CEO.)
But there’s a twist. Cook can’t cash in most of those shares for years. Of the 1 million restricted shares he was given in August of last year, half of them won’t get unlocked until 2016, and the other half won’t until 2021.
In other words, Tim Cook’s incentives are the complete opposite of those now considered normal in big public companies. He can’t make lots of money by taking big gambles with stockholders’ money, or by juicing the stock for a short-term pop. The only way he can make serious money is by building long-term value.
The future is unknowable—especially in the technology industry, and especially over five or 10 years. I’ll be amazed if iPhones and iPads have the same cachet or cult status then that they seem to have now. But if you are an Apple stockholder, there is some comfort in knowing the CEO and you dine at the same table (even if your portions differ somewhat in size).
All public-company CEOs should be rewarded like this. Maybe then we’d have an economy oriented more toward long-term, sustainable growth than short-term action.
Instead, most are loaded down with bonuses, top-up incentives, stock, options, and as many other freebies as their greedy little arms can hold. Many of the bankers who crashed the economy in 2008 walked away with fortunes, even while their stockholders (and the country) lost their shirts. No wonder what happened, happened.
Recent LWLG News
- Lightwave Logic Reaffirms Commercialization Timeline Presented at the 2024 Annual Shareholder Meeting • PR Newswire (US) • 06/03/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/24/2024 08:01:14 PM
- Lightwave Logic and Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF) Partner to Accelerate Development of Silicon Photonics Modulators Using Electro-Optic Polymers • PR Newswire (US) • 05/21/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic Provides First Quarter 2024 Corporate Update • PR Newswire (US) • 05/13/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/10/2024 08:41:09 PM
- Lightwave Logic Demonstrates Thought Leadership with Critical Contributions to Global Integrated Photonics Industry Roadmap • PR Newswire (US) • 04/16/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic Secures New Patent for Diamondoid Non-linear Optical Chromophore Patent to Improves Material Robustness • PR Newswire (US) • 04/01/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic EO Polymer Achieves World-Class Performance of 400Gbps with Plasmonic Mach Zehnder Modulator • PR Newswire (US) • 03/28/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic Demonstrates World-Class 200Gbps Heterogeneous Polymer/Silicon Photonic Modulator Results • PR Newswire (US) • 03/25/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic to Host Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 22, 2024 • PR Newswire (US) • 03/19/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences • PR Newswire (US) • 03/15/2024 12:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic Provides Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Corporate Update • PR Newswire (US) • 03/01/2024 01:31:00 PM
- Form 10-K - Annual report [Section 13 and 15(d), not S-K Item 405] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 02/29/2024 10:09:53 PM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 12/08/2023 09:00:04 PM
- Form 144 - Report of proposed sale of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 12/07/2023 12:11:28 AM
- Lightwave Logic Issues Shareholder Letter and Provides Corporate Update • PR Newswire (US) • 12/04/2023 01:31:00 PM
- Small Cap Recipient of Military Drone Technology • InvestorsHub NewsWire • 11/20/2023 01:14:45 PM
- Epazz, Inc. (OTC Pink: EPAZ) ZenaDrone Demonstration to Defense Departments of UAE and Saudi Arabia • InvestorsHub NewsWire • 11/15/2023 12:19:31 PM
- Lightwave Logic Provides Third Quarter 2023 Corporate Update • PR Newswire (US) • 11/10/2023 01:31:00 PM
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 11/09/2023 09:24:23 PM
- Lightwave Logic to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences • PR Newswire (US) • 11/06/2023 01:31:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic CEO Dr. Michael Lebby to Present at the Optica Photonic-Enabled Cloud Computing Industry Summit • PR Newswire (US) • 10/12/2023 12:50:00 PM
- Lightwave Logic Receives 2023 Industry Innovation Award for Hybrid PIC/Optical Integration Platform at the European Conference on Optical Communications • PR Newswire (US) • 10/03/2023 12:31:00 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 10/02/2023 08:00:08 PM
- Lightwave Logic to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences • PR Newswire (US) • 09/05/2023 12:31:00 PM
Mass Megawatts Announces $220,500 Debt Cancellation Agreement to Improve Financing and Sales of a New Product to be Announced on July 11 • MMMW • Jun 28, 2024 7:30 AM
VAYK Exited Caribbean Investments for $320,000 Profit • VAYK • Jun 27, 2024 9:00 AM
North Bay Resources Announces Successful Flotation Cell Test at Bishop Gold Mill, Inyo County, California • NBRI • Jun 27, 2024 9:00 AM
Branded Legacy, Inc. and Hemp Emu Announce Strategic Partnership to Enhance CBD Product Manufacturing • BLEG • Jun 27, 2024 8:30 AM
POET Wins "Best Optical AI Solution" in 2024 AI Breakthrough Awards Program • POET • Jun 26, 2024 10:09 AM
HealthLynked Promotes Bill Crupi to Chief Operating Officer • HLYK • Jun 26, 2024 8:00 AM