Apple's recently appointed CEO Tim Cook was paid just $4.2 million in 2012, which included $1.3 million as his base salary and non-cash compensation making up the rest.

That stands in contrast to 2011, when Cook took over the running of the company from the late Steve Jobs. The promotion earned him $378 million - up from $59 million in 2010 when he was the COO.

However, the figure, revealed by a United States Securities and Exchange Commission filing, only paints part of the story. When Cook took over the running of Apple in August 2011, Cook was given 1 million restricted stock units, worth around $376 million, as a promotion and retention bonus which made up the majority of his compensation in that year.

He's only allowed to swap half of that for cash in 2016 and vest the rest in 2012, according to The Next Web.

Apple's securities filing did reveal that Cook's base salary went up from $900,000 to $1.4 million, however.

"Despite this increase, the target annual cash compensation for Mr. Cook remains significantly below the median annual cash compensation level for CEOs at peer companies," said the filing.

Other top executives at Apple were rewarded handsomely with stock options in 2012, including top hardware engineer Robert Mansfield, who got shares worth $83 million, while Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer and General Counsel Bruce Sewell both got stock grants worth just over $66 million.

All that is still just a fraction of Apple's market capitalization, valued at over $480 billion, although its share value has fallen 27% since its record high in September amid worries that the company needs new products to fend off competition from rivals such as Google and Samsung.