Re: Apple, Jobs, and the irony of it

[Eric Smith <eric-no-spam-for-me@brouhaha.com>]

Richard Kilpatrick <richard@dmc12.demon.co.uk> writes:
> So? It's his company. He co-founded it.

Wrong.  It's the shareholders' company, of which he owns only a small
fraction.  The board of directors is responsible for appointing top
executives and compensating them so as to maximize shareholder value.
If the board members fail to do this, they can be voted out, or in some
cases may be personally liable for breach of fiduciary responsibility.

> He has, IMO, earned every penny he makes, no matter how little he
> really does now, because it is his baby.

Your opinion and a share of stock will get you about a hundred millionth
of the say in running the company.  I think it's safe to say that most
shareholders think he should be paid the minimum necessary to retain his
services (without compromising the value of those services).  I doubt
that very many shareholders think he should be paid big piles of cash
because the company "owes" him anything for founding it.  If they think
he should be paid big piles of cash at all, it's for what he's doing
now, not what he did more than 25 years ago.