Gil Amelio's Insanely Great Paycheck

Is new Apple CEO Gil Amelio worth his millions?

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By Peter Burrows

February 26, 1996 at 5:00 AM UTC

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Apple Computer Inc. has world-class problems. And now it has got a chairman and CEO who's pulling down a world-class pay package. Gilbert F. Amelio, a board member since late 1994, who took the helm on Feb. 5, will earn at least $2.5 million a year, according to Securities & Exchange Commission documents. And if he meets unspecified performance goals, the total package will be worth between $10 million and $13 million annually.

That doesn't quite make him a superstar among high-priced turnaround experts--but he is close. According to executive-compensation expert Graef Crystal, IBM chief Louis V. Gerstner Jr. earned $17.2 million in 1994, while AlliedSignal CEO Lawrence A. Bossidy took in $30.5 million. But Amelio stacks up better against the likes of Eastman Kodak CEO George Fisher, at $6 million. "He wouldn't make the finals of the biggest-pigs-in-America competition," says Crystal. "But these are high numbers."