Apple Inc chief executive Steve Jobs was paid his customary US$1 annual salary this year, but Apple’s strength through a rough economic climate returned the value of his personal holdings in the company to pre-meltdown levels.
Jobs does not get a bonus or reimbursement for perks many other CEOs accept, such as personal security, according to a regulatory filing made on Wednesday. Apple said it reimbursed Jobs US$4,000 for company travel on his US$90 million Gulfstream V jet, which he received as a bonus in 1999.
That’s far less than the US$871,000 Apple reimbursed Jobs last year.
The CEO took nearly six months off this year for medical leave, during which time he received a liver transplant. He returned to work at the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters part-time at the end of June.
Jobs, 54, holds 5.5 million shares of Apple’s stock. He has not sold any shares since he rejoined the company in 1997, nor has he been awarded any new equity since 2003.
Last year, the value of Jobs’ stake in the company he founded was cut in half as investors worried Apple’s pricey gadgets might not fare well through the US recession. But shares of the maker of iPods, iPhones and Mac computers gained about 42 percent during the 2009 fiscal year that ended in September, and at the close of trading on Wednesday, when Apple’s stock reached US$202.10, Jobs’ holdings were worth about US$1.1 billion.
Jobs is also the largest individual shareholder of The Walt Disney Co. His 7.4 percent stake is currently worth about US$4.5 billion.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS