It might be a bit hard to believe, but in reality many passionate employees don't really care about the pay - they genuinely want to build a great product - but they are still paid well because the company looks after the top talent in every possible way.

Then why pay him that much in the first place?

Because he cares bout the pay because it’s how he keeps score

This would be my exact interpretation - it's not that he needs the money it's that he wants the cachet of being insanely well remunerated

He says he's giving all of his wealth away when he dies anyway. So I'm guessing he has plans to give it to causes he really thinks are important going forward. I'm pretty sure someone like Tim Cook doesn't need the cash so there must be a reason for the compensation and to be fair Apple's execution has been nothing short of incredible since he took over.

If you want a real answer, it’s because there are many other companies that would love to hire Mr. Cook and would be willing to pay a lot to do it.

Google, is that you?

As a sign of respect, and so he can hold his head high while standing alongside his peers.

Yeah, because at that level, that's what's going to make the difference between him and his peers as they're chatting :-)

He is Tim Cook. Everyone knows who he is and his compensation hardly matters in terms of prestige.

I think people at this level have enough economic dignity points already. Let those on the bottom rung have a few.