Apple CEO Tim Cook links bonus to share performance

Apple's board is linking more of chief executive Tim Cook's compensation to the company's stock performance, seeking to reassure investors who have seen the shares drop 41 per cent from a record in September last year.

Cook, who received one of the largest stock-reward packages on record in 2011, requested the modification, Apple's board said in a filing. The change means about third of the chief executive's stock rewards will now be subject to a drop in value.

Cook was given 1 million Apple shares vesting over a decade after succeeding Steve Jobs in 2011. As a result of the new plan, part of that bonus will now be based on stock performance. Investors including the California Public Employees' Retirement System have urged Apple and other companies to link pay more to the stock price.

"There is quite a bit of pressure from the investor community on firms to put plans like this in place," said Allan McCall, a co-founder of executive-compensation consulting firm Compensia.

The move indicated "how much pressure there is that Apple, which has historically done its own thing with respect to compensation, seems to be responding to these things".

Apple is facing heightened competition from Samsung Electronics, Google and other firms. Apart from an updated line of MacBook Air laptops, Apple has not introduced a new product since October last year, increasing pressure on Cook to release a new device that can live up to the success of the iPhone and iPad.