Apple CEO Tim Cook's compensation highlighted the widening gap between the rich and middle class, according to Fortune.
Cook scored $74.6 million in 2024, which is 18% more than he landed in 2023. It included $58.1 million in stocks, $12 million in performance bonuses, and $1.5 million in other recompense. At that rate, he made the annual salary of the average American within seven hours.
That said, Cook has pledged to donate all his wealth to charities when he dies, and he has steered Apple toward a range of philanthropic missions.
On top of the social ills wealth disparities have caused, the typical luxurious lifestyles of the rich have an outsized environmental impact.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' two private jets emit more pollution in a year than the average Amazon worker would in 207 years, for example. One study attributed two-thirds of the shifting climate to the habits of the world's top 10% earners.
The pollution generated from excessive lifestyles traps heat in the atmosphere and exacerbates a wide range of destructive weather patterns. The rest of the world is left to bear the burdens and pick up the costs of that damage.
While it's more important for the rich to moderate their lifestyles to lower their environmental impacts, anyone can set a good example by engaging in sustainable travel practices and making their home energy-efficient.
Online commenters were grossed out by Cook's compensation, though he's just one part of a much bigger problem.
"Despite being the CEO of one of the wealthiest companies in the world, he's not even in the top 100 richest people in the world, and that's kinda surprising," one Reddit user said.
"Legitimately disgusting. Who needs that much money? How can one even fathom [what] to do with all that money?" another chimed in.
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