Apple Inc. Announces CEO Transition; New CEO and Executive Chair Compensation

What Happened Apple filed an amendment to its April 20, 2026 Form 8-K to disclose compensation arrangements tied to its CEO transition effective September 1, 2026. John Ternus was named CEO with an increased annual salary of $3.0 million (effective Sept. 1, 2026), a prorated FY2026 restricted stock unit (RSU) award with a $2.5 million target value, and a fiscal 2027 annual equity award target of $55 million (75% performance-based RSUs tied to Apple’s total shareholder return (TSR) vs. S&P 500; 25% time‑based RSUs vesting 12.5% semiannually over four years). Tim Cook will become Executive Chair; his annual salary will be $2.0 million (effective Sept. 26, 2026) and he will receive a fiscal 2027 equity award target of $45 million (50% performance-based RSUs tied to TSR vs. S&P 500; 50% time‑based RSUs vesting 12.5% semiannually over four years). The filing notes that, if Cook retires on or after the first anniversary of the grant date, his equity award will vest (performance RSUs subject to performance) but will continue to settle on the original schedule.

Key Details

• John Ternus: $3.0M annual salary (effective Sept 1, 2026); prorated FY2026 RSU target $2.5M; FY2027 equity target $55M (75% performance / 25% time-based).
• Tim Cook: $2.0M annual salary (effective Sept 26, 2026); FY2027 equity target $45M (50% performance / 50% time-based).
• Performance RSUs vest based on Apple’s TSR relative to companies in the S&P 500; time-based RSUs vest in equal semiannual installments of 12.5% over four years.
• Filing is an amendment to the Original Form 8-K (filed Apr 20, 2026); all other information in that filing remains unchanged.

Why It Matters This filing formalizes pay packages that align the new CEO’s and Executive Chair’s compensation with shareholder performance (TSR vs. S&P 500) and clarifies the financial terms of Apple’s leadership transition. The large equity targets and performance linkage are material to investors because they affect expected executive incentives, potential future share-based compensation expense, and dilution assumptions used in valuation and proxy analyses.