AAPL Apple Inc

By Maria Armental and Tripp Mickle 

Apple Inc. cleared its internal financial targets in 2019, but CEO Tim Cook's executive compensation fell by roughly one-quarter because of revenue and profit declines tied to weaker iPhone sales.

The company exceeded expectations in fiscal 2018, when the tenth-anniversary iPhone delivered a record $265.6 billion in revenue and earned Mr. Cook a $12 million cash bonus.

Apple's board set less ambitious goals for the company in fiscal 2019. Rather than raise expectations for total sales as it has done in the past, Apple lowered its sales target 3% from fiscal 2018 to $256.6 billion. The profit target declined 15% from the prior year to $60.1 billion.

The company's $260.2 billion in sales and $63.9 billion profit cleared those benchmarks.

The more modest goals reflect the cyclical nature of Apple's business. The company depends on the iPhone for more than half of total sales. It now overhauls the device's design every three years -- a strategy that causes sales to spike when those new devices are introduced, followed by declines in subsequent years.

Mr. Cook's executive compensation, excluding vested shares, totaled nearly $11.6 million for fiscal 2019. His pay included a $7.7 million cash bonus, some $450,000 in security costs and $315,000 in air travel expenses, reflecting the company's policy that Mr. Cook use private planes for all business and personal travel.

Also factoring in the nearly $113.5 million from stock that vested during the year, Mr. Cook's overall pay would add up to roughly $125 million.

As in previous years, Mr. Cook's executive compensation was lower than that of other Apple executives, including Deirdre O'Brien, a longtime Apple executive who last year took on added responsibilities. Ms. O'Brien's compensation totaled $19.2 million for the year ended in September.

Mr. Cook, 59 years old, joined Apple in 1998 and has served as CEO since 2011.

--Josh Beckerman contributed to this article.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com and Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 03, 2020 19:52 ET (00:52 GMT)

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