When Tim Cook received his pay package last year it was worth $378 million, but with Apple stock at an all time high of $445 a share, the value of his million shares has risen to $445,000,000. Apple rose 30 points on Tuesday after it announced that it sold 37 million iPhones last quarter. The restricted stock units are designed to keep Cook at Apple by vesting in two stages, half in 2016 and the other half in 2021. So if he leaves Apple before then they will lose all value. So think of them as a $445,000,000 carrot ensuring stability for the most valuable company in the world, just agead of Exxon.

Apple named Cook its CEO in August 2011 after Steve Jobs died. He was acting CEO in 2004 and later in 2009 while the late Apple founder, Steve Jobs, took medical leaves.

Cook’s pay package accounts for a regular salary of $900,000, a performance bonus, insurance premiums, and stock shares now valued at over $445 million.

Cook has repeatedly made top-ranking appearances in national LGBT magazines as one of the most powerful gay men in America, however, Cook has never publicly commented on his sexuality. Out Magazine recently listed Cook at the top of their 2011 Power 50 List. Cook previously worked for IBM Computers and Compaq before being hired by Jobs in 1998.