Tim Cook says 'No, thanks' to US$75 million

Apple CEO Tim Cook has asked to be exempted from a restricted stock payout that would have seen him awarded around US$75 million over the next few years.

The company is conducting the payouts as 'dividend equivalents' to ensure that employees who have been granted restricted stock units as part of their compensation aren't at a disadvantage to other shareholders who are due to start receiving dividends later this year.

However, according to an SEC filing, Cook doesn't want his.

"At Mr Cook's request," the filing reads, "none of his restricted stock units will participate in dividend equivalents.

"Assuming a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share over the vesting periods of his 1.125 million outstanding restricted stock units, Mr Cook will forego approximately $75 million in dividend equivalent value.

Now, admittedly, Cook is one of the most well-compensated executives in the world, the Wall Street Journal recently placing him at number one on a list of the 300 top-earning CEOs in America.

Even so, this is free money he's turning down. It's not even like it's being put to better use within Apple, given that the company's problematic US$100 billion cash pile is the reason the dividends are being paid in the first place.