Apple CEO Tim Cook’s earnings up 74% to $102m

Mr Cook became Apple’s chief executive after Steve Jobs resigned in 2011 and shares in the company have more than tripled under his watch.

The company currently has a market capitalisation of over $875bn (£650bn) making it the most valuable publicly owned company in the world.

In a proxy statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said Mr Cook earned just over $3m (£2.2m) in salary, plus $9.3m (£6.9m) in bonuses.

:: Apple shares peaked as iPhone X goes on sale in UK

He was also awarded stock worth $89m (£66m), up 74% from last year for a total of roughly $102m (£75m) for his work in 2017 alone.

As the head of the world’s most valuable company, Mr Cook is also now forced to use private planes to travel for both business and personal purposes.

Apple said transporting the chief executive around the world in 2017 cost more than $93,000 (£69,000) and his personal security costs ran to more than $220,000 (£163,000).

The chief executive, who has attended tech summits at the White House arranged by US President Donald Trump, was revealed to have condemned the president’s response to the Charlottesville protests in an internal email leaked to the press.

The proxy filing to the SEC comes as Apple announced it would be holding its annual share holder meeting on 13 February at the Steve Jobs Theatre, where it also launched the iPhone X.

Apple is facing as many as eight class action lawsuits in the US alone following on from an admission that it had developed software to slow down old iPhones with low-capacity batteries, as a way of protecting the devices’ components. –  news.sky.com