Apple’s New CEO Pay Package Is Worth $58 Million, Putting Him Just Outside the Top 20
Here’s what Tim Cook’s successor John Ternus stands to earn in salary and equity in his first full year at the tech giant.
John Ternus and Tim Cook attend the premiere of Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso” in Los Angeles, California. Photo:
Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus, chose a good time to step into the pilot’s seat. CEO pay is trending upward these days, and Ternus’ compensation package will be nothing to scoff at during his first full year in power.
Ternus, formerly head of hardware engineering
Ternus, formerly head of hardware engineering for the $4.7 trillion tech giant, is set to receive an annual salary of $3 million, as well as a $55 million annual equity award in 2027, the Wall Street Journal reports. (Ternus officially became CEO yesterday, so will also get a prorated reward of restricted stock units with a reported target value of $2.5 million for his leadership through the remainder of this year.)
It’s a sizable payout for the new tech exec, even by the standard of his fellow business leaders. Still, his predecessor—outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, who boosted Apple stock by more than 2,200 percent during his tenure—made more.
In June, WSJ released its annual breakdown of CEO pay packages across the S&P 500. Elon Musk was far and away the most highly-compensated, with his total package from Tesla worth more than $158 billion per the analysis’ estimates. (It could be worth more or less depending on how the company performs.)
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Musk was an outlier—the second highest paid executive
Musk was an outlier—the second highest paid executive in the WSJ breakdown, Shankh Mitra of Welltower, made $821 million—but his sky-high payout was indicative of a larger trend toward bigger, juicier executive compensation plans. More American CEOs made at least nine figures last year than in any year since 2021, causing WSJ to declare that “the $100-million-plus CEO is back with a bang,” with the media S&P 500 leader making around $18 million.
Based on his reported $58 million package, which was disclosed in recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Ternus would be the 22nd highest-paid S&P 500 leader in the WSJ data—a few spots higher than Netflix’s Ted Sarandos ($54 million) and right behind Capital One Financial’s Richard Fairbank ($65 million).
Still substantially ahead of Ternus? Cook, who the WSJ analysis had at No. 15 for his $74 million compensation package in 2025.
(Note that, as is typical with this sort
(Note that, as is typical with this sort of executive compensation plan, much of Ternus’ equity will pay out based on Apple’s corporate performance—in this case, WSJ reports, based on shareholder returns relative to the rest of the S&P 500.)
Even going forward, Cook will be doing pretty well for himself. According to WSJ, he’ll continue to make an annual salary of $2 million, plus a targeted equity payout worth $45 million next year, in his new role as executive chair of the Cupertino-based Big Tech behemoth.
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Source: www.inc.com
