A new ranking by Bloomberg today has listed "The World's Best-Value CEOs" in order of how well their yearly salaries align with their performance at each company. In total, 100 CEOs of companies from around the world -- including Apple, Alphabet, Verizon, and China Mobile -- were placed in the ranking to determine which organizations "are getting the best value from their CEO."

According to the list, Apple has the eleventh-most-valuable CEO with Tim Cook, whose latest reported pay of around $10.3 million is "a bargain" when compared to Apple's three-year average economic profit of $22.6 billion. Cook's pay is broken down into a salary of $2 million, non-equity incentive plan of $8 million, and "other" compensation of $281,327. Not part of his base salary, Cook netted over 1.2 million Apple shares worth over $130 million upon reaching his fifth anniversary as CEO on August 24, 2011.

tim_cook_fastco
Cook's lower compensation in comparison to other CEOs, along with his performance at Apple, have earned him the spot near the top of Bloomberg's chart. The rankings included companies with market capitalizations of $1 billion or higher, and each CEO had to have served three or more fiscal years to be considered.

Are chief executive officers worth their pay? Apple CEO Tim Cook's $10 million in compensation isn't chump change, but it's a bargain when you compare that to the company's massive average economic profit over the last three years. Other companies pay their CEOs much more, but seem to get a lot less for it. Bloomberg looked at the pay-for-performance ratio of 100 CEOs at some of the largest companies around the world to see which companies are getting the best value from their CEO.

In the number one spot is Kosta Kartsotis of Fossil Group, who has waived compensation completely on an average three-year economic profit of $147 million for the company. Alphabet's Larry Page is in 3rd, Verizon Communication's Lowell McAdam is in 14th, and AT&T's Randall Stephenson is in 65th. Check out Bloomberg's full rankings of The World's Best-Value CEOs right here.

Top Rated Comments

OllyW Avatar
117 months ago
I'm sure not everyone here would agree, to put it nicely.
That's because most members are more interested in the products than the profits.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sunapple Avatar
117 months ago
I'm sure not everyone here would agree, to put it nicely.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aussiephil Avatar
117 months ago
I feel like this economic path to success under Cook's rule isn't a sustainable one. Previously, it would seem that Apple's focus was to surprise consumers with amazing technology and impeccable innovation. But now it would seem that their focus is on squeezing costs and increasing margins in every facet of their business. They're taking advantage of what has made them successful but there's only so much mediocrity their loyal followers are willing to put up with before they become loyal no more.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
117 months ago
Cook is a logistics genius. He really is. What he's achieved with manufacturing and markup is unparalleled in the industry.

What he suffers with is something that Jobs was so good at: looking at products from the view of the consumer. If Jobs sat down and used an entry-level Mac Mini in 2016, he'd question why it was so damned slow. The engineers would answer that it's due to the 5400RPM drive. So Jobs would simply make sure it's a Fusion drive at minimum to give the impression of quick real-world performance.

That's what's most frustrating. There's very little that needs to be improved to make every Mac across the board perform to an Apple-quality level. But sometimes I get the feeling he's looking to upsell more than the consumer getting a great product, regardless of what they buy.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gim Avatar
117 months ago
Ripping off customers must be a highly regarded skill for a CEO.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
117 months ago
This is "Best Value" not "Best" overall. It's like a $6.99 steak at Golden Coral. Sure it's a "value" as far as steak goes but it's not the best quality and later on in the evening it may come back to haunt you.

These kind of rankings are nothing more than click-bait because they are so one dimensional they fail as useful information.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
ipad blue prime day

iPad 12 Rumored to Get iPhone 17's A19 Chip, Breaking Apple Tradition

Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup. Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
studio display purple

Apple Studio Display 2 Code Hints at 120Hz ProMotion, HDR, A19 Chip

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities. According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...