Apple spends $700,000 a year to keep Tim Cook safe

Apple spends nearly $700,000 (about £450,000) a year to protect CEO Tim Cook.

Patently Apple pulled the figure from Apple's Schedule 14A report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In full, the report stated (emphasis our own): "This amount represents: (i) the Company's contributions to Mr. Cook's account under its 401(k) plan in the amount of $15,600; (ii) Company-paid term life insurance premiums in the amount of $2,520; (iii) vacation cash-out in the amount of $56,923; and (iv) security expenses in the amount of $699,133."

But that isn't actually that much considering how much other tech firms have spent on security for their senior execs in the past. According to a Fortune article, which quotes a 2014 report by Equilar, Amazon spent the most looking after its CEO in 2013. Equilar tracks executive compensation, and says Amazon paid out $1.6 million that year on security for Jeff Bezos. During the same period, when Larry Ellison was still CEO of Oracle, the company spent $1.5 million on security for him.