In 2016, Apple's annual revenue took a dip for the first time in a decade and a half, and now CEO Tim Cook is paying for it.
Back in 2015, Apple's head man made a total of $10.3 million. Of that amount, $2 million was base salary and $8 million came from cash incentives, as he made the maximum available in his contract.
Last year, however, Cook took a 15% pay cut, down to $8.7 million. Though he received a raise to a $3 million base salary, his cash incentives dropped down to $5.4 million due to the company's failure to meet its goals in both profits and total sales for the year.
All five of the senior executives below Cook also took a pay cut this year, though they're all still earning well ahead of Cook. Each one made around $23 million in 2016, down by over $2 million each from the previous year.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Much of Apple's struggle comes from increased competition, primarily from Samsung, in the smartphone market. Samsung's Galaxy line has released innovative additions to the market, making it far more difficult for Apple's iPhone to compete. The iPhone price point remains high, while the innovations in recent additions to the line have underwhelmed consumers. Considering a large majority of the company's total sales come from the iPhone, the hit to their sales has been a large source of Apple's struggles.
One recent positive note, however, has been Samsung's latest struggles with its faulty Galaxy Note 7, which Samsung was forced to discontinue. It's unclear to this point, though, just how much that will help Apple in the long run.
Other factors that may come into play down the road are the new improvements that Microsoft is making to its Surface line in hopes of competing with the Macbook Pro, and also Google's latest introduction of the Pixel phone. One thing is for sure: Apple needs to step up its innovation game in 2017.
Don't worry about Cook, though. While his yearly income has decreased, he had 1.3 million shares vested at the end of his fifth year as CEO last year, adding a cool $136 million to his pocket.
