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Comment by tonmoy | Hacker News Reader

I don’t think Apple went on a hiring spree like the rest of the tech giants during the pandemic, but there is still time for even Apple to start cutting jobs.

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Well, Tim Cook started by halving his compensation. I didn't hear anything like that from his fellow CEOs who all "took full responsibility" for the choice of going for mass firing instead.

It's always insane to hear about CEOs saying that they take full responsibility, but never resign, donate their money to keep employees around, or anything of the like.

It's the corporate equivalent of "thoughts and prayers".

Actually worse because while both do jack shit, with "thoughts and prayers" there is usually at least a sincere motivation behind it.

> with "thoughts and prayers" there is usually at least a sincere motivation behind it

Not from my pov. It’s extremely hollow and insincere from what I’ve seen time and again.

Here is one such example. Albiet not from the latest round of layoffs, and occuring a few years ago https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/linkedins-ceo-gives-14-m...

I’m waiting for Zuckerberg and Pichai to say bye bye themselves or keep staff and pay them with their salary + bonuses because they took “full responsibility.”

It’ll probably be a very, very long wait.

The CEO is ultimately following the direction of the board though, right? That kind of makes it the board's responsibility. The CEO is just the public whipping boy who goes on TV and is stuck making keynotes.

It was Cook’s suggestion to the board. From the proxy statement:

“The Compensation Committee evaluates and makes compensation decisions prior to the start of each fiscal year. The results of the 2022 Say on Pay advisory vote led to broader shareholder engagement on executive compensation in 2022 of approximately 53% of institutional shares held. The Compensation Committee balanced shareholder feedback, Apple’s exceptional performance, and a recommendation from Mr. Cook to adjust his compensation in light of the feedback received.”

It's not like him halving his compensation makes any material difference in the ability of the company to avoid layoffs.

And yet, it's still better than all the other big tech companies, that cut thousands of jobs and did not reduce executive pay in any way.

If cutting the CEO's compensation lets them keep even one regular employee who would otherwise have been laid off, then that's made the world a materially better place, if only for that employee and their family.

It's a PR stunt. Get shareholders and the public talking about 'oh poor CEO he lost a few of the many many millions he earns a year'

I can’t find a single instance of this being said about his pay cut in the media. If you could support this claim, it’d be appreciated.

Also, as an Apple shareholder, that’s definitely not my reaction to the pay cut.

An expensive one and probably least successful as many haven't heard the news.

Nor any material impact to his day to day life. Having half a zillion dollars in the bank ain’t much different from a full zillion.

So given your and the parent’s comment, the reduction of his pay has no meaningful impact other that image/publicity.

Correct

I think what he halved was his stock compensation, no? I think his salary is still 3m a year, the rest of the comp is stock or bonus.

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