
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently acquired 560,000 vested restricted stock units that were split evenly between time- and performance-based awards that are worth nearly $58 million. As noted in the SEC document, Cook ended up choosing not to sell any vested RSUs, though 290,837 shares were automatically withheld by Apple to comply with minimum statutory tax withholding requirements.
Based on recent prices, the remaining shares were worth roughly $29 million. In total, Cook seems to have accumulated more than 1.17 million owned Apple shares, which if sold today would be worth roughly $121.4 million.
If Cook wants to receive a fully vested award, Cook had to meet performance metrics related to Apple’s total shareholder return relative to other firms listed in the S&P 500 during a two-year period between August 25, 2013 and August 24, 2015. The beginning value was calculated by averaging AAPL’s closing price for 20 trading days prior to the 2013 start date. After being adjusted for dividends and a 7-to-1 stock split back in 2013, the starting value was calculated at $68.57 per share. The ending value was set at $121.17 and adjusted for dividends was subsequently calculated by averaging AAPL closing prices for the 20 days leading up to August 24, 2015.
The contractual stipulations specifically stated that Cook’s RSU award would vest in full if TSR performance fell within the top third of companies that remained in the S&P 500 over the observed two-year period. Based on the filing, Apple’s TSR performance of 76.76% ended up ranking 46th of 458 companies, putting it in the 90th percentile. If Apple ended up in the middle of bottom third, the award would have been reduced to 50% or 0% respectively.
As far as Cook’s original compensation plan, there appear to be 4,760,000 outstanding RSUs scheduled to be vested in 700,000-unit batches on August 24, 2016 and 2021. There will be two 1.68 million unit chunks that will vest in six annual installments that start on August 24, 2016, one of which will be contingent on TSR performance once again.
We’ll have to see how things turn out for Cook but so far the performance seems to be headed in the right direction.
Source: SEC via AppleInsider
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