Apple investors are being asked to vote against giving CEO Tim Cook his $98.7 million pay package for 2021

• A top advisory firm has urged Apple investors to vote against Tim Cook receiving $98.7 million for 2021.
• According to Apple's SEC filing, the CEO's pay package is 1,447 times the median salary of Apple employees.

A top shareholder advisory firm has urged Apple investors to vote against CEO Tim Cook's nearly $100 million pay package for 2021.

In a letter on Wednesday, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said it had "significant concerns regarding the design and magnitude" of the amount of stock that Apple has given Cook this year, Reuters reported.

The firm has asked shareholders to vote against Cook's package at Apple's annual shareholder meeting in the first week of March, per the outlet.

Cook is due to receive $82.3 million in stock awards for 2021 on top of his $3 million annual salary, according to Apple's Security and Exchange Commission filing. The last time he was given a stock award was in 2011 when he received $384 million in shares.

He's also entitled to $12 million in incentives for Apple's performance and another $1.3 million for security, private jets, a $23,000 vacation package, and other expenses.

According to the filing, the whole pay package amounts to $98.7 million, which is 1,447 times the median Apple employee salary of $68,254. He made $14.8 million in 2020, per last year's statement.

ISS said that at least half of Cook's 2021 package "lacks performance criteria," per Reuters. The firm also noted that Cook's spending on security and private jets "significantly exceeded" those of similar companies, the Financial Times reported.

Firms like the ISS give recommendations to shareholders and investors on how they should vote and are regulated by the SEC. However, Apple's shareholder votes are purely advisory and don't compel the company's board to take action, per the Financial Times.

Still, Apple adjusted Cook's award in 2013 to add performance criteria to half of the package after a third of its shareholders voted against an increase to his pay that year while Apple's stock slumped.

The situation is different this time around, with Apple saying in its SEC filing that its revenues and profits "significantly exceeded" its maximum goals for 2021. This year, it became the first US company to reach a $3 trillion valuation.

Cook, a billionaire who has promised to donate all of his wealth to charity before he dies, isn't the only tech giant CEO to receive a significant pay package in recent years. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, was previously given $280.6 million in compensation for 2019, according to Alphabet's SEC filing.

Apple's press office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.