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Apple splashes dough to keep Big Cheese safe

$700,000 a year to wrap Tim Cook in cotton wool on a daily basis

Apple spends $699,133 every year to keep chief exec Tim Cook safe, far, far higher than his modest life insurance premium of $2,500, according to an official document.

The big figure isn't broken down and comes from a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This amount represents: (i) the Company’s contributions to Mr. Cook’s account under its 401(k) plan in the amount of $15,600; (ii) Company-paid term life insurance premiums in the amount of $2,520; (iii) vacation cash-out in the amount of $56,923; and (iv) security expenses in the amount of $699,133.

As Tech Times points out the figure would be a lot of money for most people, but appears more than reasonable in a contact which ensures the safety of a man who leads a firm valued at more than $700bn.

The security fees might be expected to include the costs of enhanced home security measures, bodyguards, and close protection security personnel.

The SEC statement goes on to justify the security spending on Cook: "Although the company does not consider it to be a perquisite for his benefit, the company provides home and personal security for Mr. Cook because his personal safety and security are of the utmost importance to the company and its shareholders."

"The company considers the security measures to be a reasonable and necessary expense for the benefit of the company," said the company.

Apple's outlay is still much less than the $1.6m Amazon spent to protect Jeff Bezos in 2013, or the $1.5m Oracle spent on security for its former chief exec, Larry Ellison, Tech Times reports.

As the first openly gay chief exec of a Fortune 500 corporation, Cook is potentially more at risk from hate crimes. With IP theft, state-sponsored or otherwise, so much in the news it's reasonable to think that data security costs of Silicon Valley's finest (Cook included) have increased.

However, we don't know the extent of the increase much less the categories of kit it goes upon. ®

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