Slideshow: 11 fun facts about Apple

To celebrate Wednesday’s shareholder meeting, we’ve ventured deep into the jungle primeval of Apple’s proxy statements to bring you 11 bits of trivia about the company’s operations.

Read on to discover just how gigantic Apple is, whose notable name is missing from the roster of the company’s officers, and the surprising truth about executive compensation.

At last count, some 61 percent of the company’s revenues were generated from sales that occurred outside the United States.

This doesn’t mean that America is less important to the company, however—especially if you consider that less than 5 percent of the world’s population lives in the U.S.

Apple divides its earnings reports into five geographical regions: the Americas, Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific, and … Retail.

And Retail is no slouch, either: The company’s brick-and-mortar operations—in 13 countries throughout the world—generated net sales of nearly $19 billion in 2012; that’s a 33-percent jump from the previous year.

According to the proxy, almost 60 percent of people employed by Apple work in the company’s retail operation.

That’s right: A whopping 42,200—out of 72,800—employees’ only job is manning your local Apple Store.

In 2012, Apple spent some $3.4 billion on research and development—the perspiration behind its inspiration.

That’s up from $1.8 billion in 2010, but still just a drop in the bucket compared to the company’s overall revenues of $156 billion.

That includes some 4.1 million square feet dedicated to Apple Stores, and 2.6 million square feet that will be demolished when the new “spaceship” campus is complete.

The company also owns over 1000 acres of land, which presumably include the locations on which its new data centers are being built.

That includes $50,000 in cash, and $250,000 worth of restricted stock (up from $200,000 in 2011).

As the chairman, Arthur Levinson makes an extra $200,000, while several other directors get additional compensation for their membership on the board’s several committees.

(Photo of Al Gore—a director since 2003—by the Center for American Progress Action Fund)

If you don’t find the director’s compensation attractive, how about some free swag?

Members of the board are each entitled to one unit of every Apple product, free of charge—provided, however, that they ask for it.

Sir Jonathan’s name is notably absent from the proxy documents, which list every other senior executive, including CEO Tim Cook, as an officer of the company.

The absence is not explained in any way, but it may be made possible by a regulatory backdoor that allows the company to keep its design chief out of the spotlight.

According to the proxy circular, all the directors and executives together own only about 600,000 shares of Apple’s common stock.

Of course, that’s before counting restricted stock awards that haven’t vested yet—like Tim Cook’s million-share bonus, designed to keep him in office until 2021.

Apple is a surprisingly egalitarian company when it comes to executive compensation: Each of the company’s top managers makes $875,000 per year, except Tim Cook, whose chief executive spot is worth $1.4 million.

If that base pay doesn’t sound exciting, consider that all executives are also entitled to a cash bonus based on performance—and, thanks to Apple’s immense growth, they’ve all taken home three times their salary in 2012. That’s up from “just” doubling their base pay in both 2010 and 2011.

The proxy makes it clear that Apple expects its executives to earn their keep without relying on some of the perks for which large corporations have become infamous.

At Cupertino’s upper echelon, there are no such things as severance agreements, tax gross-ups, or cash payments in connection with a change in control of the company. In fact, all of senior management is employed “at will” and doesn’t even have a special employment contract.