Apple hit all its performance expectations this year — and CEO Tim Cook is being rewarded for that achievement.
According to a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Cook has been awarded 560,000 restricted stock options. At present market prices, that equals around $115 million. Not a bad payday!
Cook earned 280,000 AAPL shares for his continued employment as Apple CEO, a position he’s now held for eight years. He also received an equal number of shares for Apple’s financial performance.
In order to be eligible for this award, Apple’s total shareholder return for the past three years had to be better than two-thirds of the other stocks listed in the S&P 500. On August 25, 2016, AAPL was valued at $108.01 (adjusted for dividends.) On August 24, 2019, AAPL meanwhile closed at $216.24.
A little over half of the shares — 294,840 in all — were held back to comply with statutory tax regulations. The remaining 265,160 were sold Monday in trades valued between $205.75 and $207.13.
Cook still has 1,820,000 restricted stock units that are still to vest. Gaining all of these will depend on Cook staying in his role at Apple for the next few years. With the potential of big gains in the months to come, it seems that he’s off to a great start with his next award.
Tim Cook has said that he plans to give his entire fortune to charity. Earlier this month, he donated 23,700 Apple shares to an unspecified charity. At current prices, that’s equivalent to a little more than $5 million.
