Apple CEO's pay package drops 99 percent from 2011

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks to the audience during an Apple event in San Jose, California October 23, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:12pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tim Cook has finally made it to the top at Apple Inc, but in his first full year as CEO his pay package shrank about 99 percent.

Cook, the successor to the late Steve Jobs, was awarded total compensation of $4.17 million in 2012, down from $378 million in 2011, Apple said in a federal filing on Thursday.

The 2012 compensation package for Cook, who took over as chief executive in August 2011, also seemed a pittance compared with his 2010 pay, which was 14 times higher, when the executive served as chief operating officer.

Jobs, the iconic CEO and co-founder, died in October 2011 of pancreatic cancer.

The maker of the iPhone and iPad noted that Cook will not receive any stock awards for 2012 after he was given about $376.2 million in stock awards the year before. The stock awards vest over many years.

The 2012 package includes a salary of $1.4 million and a nonequity bonus of $2.8 million, according to the filing. Cook's base salary actually increased compared with the $900,000 he earned in 2011.

While Apple's shares are 35 percent higher than when Cook assumed the CEO role, they have fallen more than 27 percent since October when they hit a $700.10 high.

Apple shares were down 0.6 percent at $509.85 on the Nasdaq late on Thursday morning.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Liana Baker; editing by Kenneth Barry and Matthew Lewis)

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Samsung drops attempt to ban Apple sales in Europe

An Apple iPhone 4S and a Samsung Galaxy S are seen in this file illustration photograph taken in Berlin August 27, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Files

STOCKHOLM | Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:35pm EST

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Korea's Samsung Electronics on Tuesday said it would drop law suits aimed at banning the sale of Apple Inc. products in Europe just a day after scoring a victory in a battle in the United States with the maker of iPhones.

Samsung and Apple, the world's top two smartphone makers, have been locked in patent disputes in at least 10 countries over the last 18 months since Apple sued Samsung, saying the Korean firm copied its best-selling iPhone and iPad.

On Tuesday, Samsung said it was dropping an attempt to stop the sale of some Apple products in Germany, Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands, though it did not say it would halt its court battle for compensation.

"Samsung remains committed to licensing our technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and we strongly believe it is better when companies compete fairly in the marketplace, rather than in court," the company said in a statement.

A spokesman for Apple declined to comment on Samsung's decision.

The decision comes a day after a judge rejected Apple Inc's request for a ban on the sale of Samsung Electronics' smartphones in the United States.

In August, Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages after a U.S. jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and iPad. The Samsung products run on the Android operating system, developed by Google.

In January, the European Commission opened an investigation into whether Samsung Electronics has distorted competition in the European mobile device market, breaking EU antitrust rules.

(Reporting by Simon Johnson, additional reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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