Apple connects CEO compensation to performance

U.S. technology giant Apple Computer says it has revised the terms of its chief executive officer's compensation package to align it with company performance. "In outreach discussions this year with many of our largest shareholders, we heard that they believe it is appropriate to attach performance criteria to a portion of our future executive stock awards that have been entirely time-based (i.e., vesting for continued service) in the past," the company said in a regulatory filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. "We agree and, beginning today, the Company will include a performance element in new stock awards to our executive officers," Apple said in the filing. Under the new policy CEO Tim Cook would not receive his full award package from 2011 unless the company met certain performance targets, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday. The filling said Cook wanted to "lead by example" and had volunteered to have the terms of his compensation package changed retroactively. Terms for future awards of RSUs to executives will be changed, but not retroactively. For Cook, 800,000 out of the 1 million restricted stock units -- RSUs -- that he was awarded in 2011 will be tied to performance goals. Cook's new agreement allows him to sell 100,000 of his RSUs in 2016 and 100,000 in 2021, whether the company makes a profit or not. The rest are now tied to the new performance metrics, the newspaper said.