Apple GC Kate Adams

Apple general counsel Kate Adams' earnings in her first year at the tech giant have been revealed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The company's 2019 proxy statement, filed this week, has revealed that her base salary for 2018 was $1m (£786,000), but because of a 53-week financial year in 2017, her 2018 salary is listed on the statement as $884,615 (£695,000).

However, she also earned $4m (£3.1m) in non-equity incentive compensation, the maximum total payout for her annual cash incentive.

With about $5m (£3.9m) in total cash compensation, Adams earned more than most of the GCs listed in Legal Week sister title Corporate Counsel's 2018 GC Compensation Survey, breaking into the top 10.

According to the filing, Adams' annual cash incentive was boosted because Apple's executives exceeded the maximum performance goals for both net sales and operating income.

Apple reported net sales of $265.6bn and an operating income of $70.9bn in 2018, both numbers representing a year-on-year increase of 16%, according to the filing. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook lowered the company's quarterly revenue forecast due to slow iPhone sales in China.

"We believe the compensation paid to our named executive officers for 2018 appropriately reflects and rewards their contribution to our performance," Apple said in the filing, which was signed by Adams.

Adams also received $21,509,765 (£16,901,000) in stock awards and $306,280 (£241,000) in other compensation, including Apple's contributions to her 401(k) plan and relocation expenses. She joined the company in November 2017 from US consumer conglomerate Honeywell, where she was senior vice-president and general counsel.

"[Restricted stock units] awards with time-based vesting align the interests of our named executive officers with the interests of our shareholders by promoting the stability and retention of a high-performing executive team over the longer term," the filing said.

Five other Apple executive officers, including Cook, had their compensations outlined in the filing. All listed executives had a base salary of $1m, except Cook, whose base was $3m. The executives' base salaries were about the same in 2017.

According to the filing, the executives' compensation packages are determined by a board of independent directors.

The directors use risk reports provided by Adams and other members of Apple's risk oversight committee when creating compensation packages. They also consider Cook's evaluations of other Apple executives, a compensation consultant's advice and the compensation of peers at other tech companies, including Alphabet, Amazon.com, Facebook and Intel.