Apple Bestows Glory & Riches to Tim Cook for Services Rendered

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You might remember how last year Steve Jobs had to take a leave of absence from Apple due to his medical problems. But while master Steve was away Apple continued to bring in lots of cash as it successfully sold plenty of iPhones, MacBooks and iPods. Not to mention that the App Store grew even bigger and stronger and Cupertino managed to cut down prices on some of its most expensive products while introducing and constantly refreshing its famous computer lines.

No matter if you hate or love the guy, you have to admire Steve Jobs for the passion and effort he puts into his business. But Apple does not rely on one guy alone no matter how much out of the box he is really thinking. An important element of the whole Apple business is Tim Cook, the man that acted as a CEO while Steve Jobs was gone.

And Apple surely knows how to thank those people that render special services for the company (read: bring in lots of precious cash) as it has just awarded Tim Cook no less than $22 million in bonuses for the time he spent as acting CEO for Apple.

Of that $22 million in bonus, $5 million represent an immediate bonus while the rest of the $17 million is made of 75,000 units of restricted stock. Here’s exactly what the SEC filling says:

On March 10, 2010, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. (the “Company”) unanimously approved a recommendation by Steve Jobs, the Company’s CEO, to award Timothy D. Cook, the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, a one-time discretionary bonus of $5,000,000 and 75,000 restricted stock units in recognition of his outstanding performance in assuming the day-to-day operations of the Company for the period in fiscal 2009 during which Mr. Jobs was on medical leave of absence.

Fifty percent of the restricted stock units are scheduled to vest on each of March 10, 2011 and March 10, 2012, subject to Mr. Cook’s continued employment with the Company through that date.

It’s funny how that extra place in heaven doesn’t get mention in this filling…But anyway, why should we care about how Apple treats its own? Well these kind of details should further increase our confidence in a company that’s able to produce outstanding products. And, on the other hand we also know where some of the money we spend on overpriced Apple products go, although we do hope that other Apple employees also received some sort of bonuses.

So good job, Tim Cook, we feel that you deserve the bonus although we still have some constructive criticism concerning all things Apple! Don’t spend that bonus money all in one place!