It was an unusual hire for a tech giant but one that held the promise of a bold move when, five years ago, AAPL +1.6%Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook hired Angela Ahrendts away from luxury fashion house Burberry (NYSE: BURBY) to head up Apple’s retail operations. A leading retail fashion executive might bring some excitement and style to Apple’s plans for the future as torrid growth in iPhone sales begins to run out of steam.
It was also a bold investment. To lure her from Burberry, Ahrendts’ first year compensation package was $73.4 million. In 2017 she earned $25 million, twice as much as CEO Cook, making her Apple’s highest paid executive.