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Apple boss gets $22m bonus

Nice day rate for six months' work

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Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook got a cash bonus of $5m and a bunch of share options for filling in while Steve Jobs was off sick

For covering the top job for six months while Jobs got a liver transplant Cook got $5m in cash and 75,000 share options - half will vest in March 2011 and the other half in March 2012, as long as Cook is still with the company.

The payment was made on the recommendation of Steve Jobs and was unanimously approved by the compensation committee, an SEC filing reveals.

At today's prices the total bonus works out at about $22m for six months' work - not bad money. But to be fair Apple had a pretty good six months while Cook was in the hot seat. ®

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Stress the great excuse of the modern world.

Its not really a disease but plenty of people make their living from telling us that it is and plenty of people want to believe it is because it makes their issues seem more important if a doctor tells them they are ill.

Back on the subject of this stupid bonus, its a stupid bonus. No-one's job is that much harder than anyone else's, or requires that much more intelligence. His decisions may have consequences that affect the whole company, but at the end of the day he is not some sort of magician. He can only give the decision that he thinks is best and it either works or it doesn't.

There are only so many jobs at the top, and far more people below who are capable of those jobs. We never get to see what those people could do if they were given the chance because there is only so much room for debate in a company. In the end a few people have to make the decisions. They are no more special because of this. Smart, talented but far from being so smart and talented that they should receive the equivalent of a small country's savings.

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@SC handle

If consumers buy stuff with money they don't have, it's primarily their fault. The bankers' fault is that of lending money to people who they know have a high probability of not being to pay that loan back. Yes, that is mostly a failure of regulation, but the bankers have (a) consistently and continuously lobbied for less regulation and for basically being allowed to do as they please and (b) fail to realise that their long-term stability is more beneficial than making gazillions NOW and to hell with tomorrow. The way bonuses were structured to reward short-term gain rather than long-term profitability and stability reflects this.

Of course you are right, bankers are far from unique in this respect, I can very happily bitch about state aid, government corruption / incompetence etc, whoever is involved from whatever sector of the economy. Bottom line (and what's actually relevant to this story) - It's perfectly fine for people to make loads of money if done legitimately and ethically.

But since we've gone off at a bit of a tangent - It's also a proven fact through human history that some people will do anything for a quick buck, and therefore need to be controlled. The bad thing is that our control mechanism (democracy) over the mechanisms that control business (regulators) has been subverted so that now business controls the regulators

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Anonymous Coward

Stress is..

Stress is a potentially debilitating condition which can make it totally impossible to do even the simplest job, and can render life virtually unbearable for the person suffering it. The earlier it's addressed by stepping away from the causes of it for a while, the quicker it is to fix. Unfortunately some people assume that they are immune or that it is not a real problem and work until they are virtually destroyed, leading to extremely long recovery times.

Covering someone's job for 18 months and not asking for any more money though = just plain stupid

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