He made Apple into the world's first $4 trillion company, but Tim Cook's salary lags behind CEOs from Microsoft, Starbucks, Tesla, and others.

It's not like your heart should bleed for Tim Cook, since he's not exactly on minimum wage. Also, if you are going to get your company up to a $4 trillion market cap, you're not going to be an honorarium.

Plus, now even though Fortune magazine puts Cook's 2024 take-home pay at $74.6 million, no one's salary seems large — not compared to Elon Musk. While it's tied to a deal that will take years to complete, Tesla shareholders recently voted to pay him $1 trillion.

To be fair, this unbelievable nonsense is a one-off payment instead of an annual salary. But it is still 13,405 times what Cook earned in 2024.

For comparison, Cook is having to budget on a salary (and benefits) that total about 4,947 times the annual US minimum wage.

If you want to work out how much more than the minimum wage Musk earns, go right ahead. AppleInsider's calculator app had to switch into scientific notation to handle the sums.

Who earns what

Just looking at what CEOs earned in 2024, the latest figures available, Tim Cook comes in seventh. He's behind:

  • Axon's Rick Smith: $164.5 million
  • Coherent's Jim Anderson: $101.5 million
  • Starbucks' Brian Niccol: $95.8 million
  • GE Aerospace's Larry Culp: $87.5 million
  • Ares Management's Michael Arougheti: $85.4 million
  • Microsoft's Satya Nadella: $79.1 million

You haven't even heard of some of those firms. And those firms don't appear to have heard of women.

Note that all of these figures are approximate — and they're from firms that are required to list their salaries.

Plus, CEO salaries are tied to performance and other contract details, so it's hard to actually compare like with like. Except you can compare what Cook earned before.

In 2022, Tim Cook earned $99.4 million. Anyone else might have aimed for the $100 million next time, but Cook went the other way.

Tim Cook asked Apple to cut his compensation by 40% for 2023. Reportedly, he asked for the cut following an adverse reaction to his high salary the year before, from people who never conceived Musk could earn a trillion.

What they could spend it on

If you were Tim Cook, then even in 2024 when Apple had given him a pay cut, you could buy 6,041 of the absolute maxed-out Mac Pro. Or 124,541 of the base Mac mini.

Again, these figures are for 2024, so they cover a period before the HomePod mini was being listed as out of stock. Which means Tim Cook's home could have 753,535 of them.

Which is pitiful. When you compare it to the 1.01 x 10 the power 10 number of HomePod mini models that Elon Musk could buy and then later return because he regrets the investment.

What they actually spend it on

You have to assume that Tim Cook does not go to the store in Apple Park to buy a new iPhone every year. You also have to figure that running Apple is not exactly the kind of job where you can take days off to play golf.

Cook has previously enthused about the gym and about his passion for hiking. No matter how much gear he buys, there's a limit to the money you can possibly spend on it.

Especially now that iPhones have Emergency SOS via Satellite, Cook has no reason to hire helicopters to rescue him from tricky terrain.

And then there is this — we actually know what Tim Cook spends his cash on, or at least what he's willing to tell us.

Back in March 2015, Tim Cook revealed that he was funding his nephew's education. And otherwise donating his approximately $1 billion worth to charity.

Presumably, Elon Musk plans to do the same.