back to article Apple shovels $400m in stock grants to top execs

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his board of directors appear keen on keeping their executive brain trust intact – so much so that they have just shelled out around $400m worth of stock options* to their top talent. "Our executive team is incredibly talented and they are all dedicated to Apple’s continued success," Apple spokesman …

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  1. Webster Phreaky
    Facepalm

    The CrApple 1%'ers ..... get that Fan Boys???

    Got the PICTURE YET CrAppleTards?? This filthy GREEDY Company is FIRMLY in the ONE PERCENTERS!! Ought to make you sick, but I find CrApple Fan Boys have neither little sense or community morals. With that big pile of Cash from the yearly Obscene Profits on the backs of the poor underpaid workers of Commie China, most underaged, Greedy CrApple have never paid a single cent of Dividends to their own Stock Holders.

    That Face in the 1984 Commerical should have been Steve Jobs, now Tim Cook, instead of illuding to IBM or MSFT!! Now it's confirmed.

    CrApple = 1%'ers

    1. Dave Mundt

      Get that fanboy?

      Greetings and Salutations....

      Well, while I will agree that the 1%s run Apple, that is hardly a surprise. Remember the golden rule - the man with the gold makes the rules.

      However, I do have to disagree about your assertion that Apple has never paid dividends to its stockholders. From 1989 through 1997 they did, indeed, pay a few cents per stock in cash to the stockholders. Since then, they have split the stock twice, with its value still staying way up there, so, it is very similar to giving a dividend.

      But then, Jobs did have a rather different view of how business should be run, and, Apple reflects that world view.

      regards

      dave mundt

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, you're quite right

      It was the use of capital letters that convinced me.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The CrApple 1%'ers ..... get that Fan Boys???

      He's back!

    4. LPF
      Thumb Up

      serioulsy...YOU NEED TO GET LAID!!

    5. Chad H.
      FAIL

      Could you please

      Point me to the major PC vendor that isn't a 1% er?

      Whats that? Oh yeah - there isn't one.

      Could you please now tell us what point you were trying to make - cos I don't know anyone whos claimed that apple is on occupy's side.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      He's back!

      Previous post, May 2011. What was it, 12 month sentence reduced to 6 for good behaviour?

      1. amanfromearth

        "12 month sentence reduced to 6 for good behaviour"

        Unlikely..

        More like 3 months increased to 6 for bad behaviour

  2. azzah

    Options are not shares

    Umm... Isn't there a difference between options and shares?

    Like, if you have options over $400m worth of shares, you have to stump up the $400m in cash to actually get the shares and you only make money if the value of the shares go up? So, for this to be worth $400m to the people named, the shares have to go from being worth the $400m they have to pay for them to $800m in value.

    And if the company's share price does go from $400/share to $800/share as a result of their work (is that a case of increasing the value of the company from $400b to $800b???), well, they deserve their place in the 1%'ers.

    Of course, if they don't to that, they get nothing.

    1. Chad H.

      The way it works

      Is that these options give you the right to buy shares at a fixed price later. So if you have the option to buy for example 400k in shares today then the share price goes up, for arguments sake lets say it doubles, then yes you only need to stump up 400k but get 800k worth.

      However i may be wrong but i understand options themselves are sometimes tradable - you can sell some to someone else.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RSU's, not options

    Read the filings, these are Restricted Stock Units, not stock options. Grant price is effectively zero. These are very generous stock awards, even by silicon valley standards.

  4. Annihilator
    Coat

    Good move

    Usually when a CEO leaves, several of the board follow them, so smart thinking here by Apple..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm not sure that the Board will be particularly keen to follow the previous CEO's particular exit route...

      1. KrisMac
        Unhappy

        Based purely on statistics...

        ...some of them are unlikely to have much say in that particular matter...

  5. Arctic fox
    Thumb Down

    "...........they are all dedicated to Apple’s continued success............."

    In common with many other examples of BigCorp's managerati throughout big business they are so dedicated to the company that they have to have large amounts of wonga thrown at them in addition to their already sky-high salaries.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    SEC

    "We're reasonably confident that some honey was poured Ive's way" - surely this would have been declared to the SEC and made publicly available ?

    I'm not so sure. I had read Ive wanted his kids brought up in the UK and Apple said it wasn't vialble for him to hold his position outside of California...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: SEC

      Ives is not on the executive board, I think, which would mean no need to declare options / restricted stock going his way.

      1. Annihilator
        Happy

        re: Ives

        I think it's safe to assume that his remuneration could be categorised as "quite a lot of wonga"

  7. Schultz

    some 10s of millions ...

    between now and summer 2013 ... looks like the top brass would rather reap their rewards quickly. Who knows what might come after the 4s and if there will be any cash left in the long term?

    Or is this me being a tad too cynical?

    1. Chris007
      Big Brother

      not cynical

      I think you're on the money - that was my thought as well

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Win or Lose

    They are in the money either way. Even if the Apple share price collapses to 10% then make a nice wodge out of it.

  9. Robert Flatters
    WTF?

    what about thoses in the shops

    I take it those that work on the front line, ie the shops, also get some shares and not just a hand shake and the imortal words "Your all doing really well". The other question is has it been agreed by the share owners themself. Or has Tim Cook forgot about them

  10. Error Message Silver badge
    Boffin

    Most of the posters here = Idiots

    Obviously, most of the posters don't understand how stock options work. If the board grants you 100,000 options with a vesting date that starts today with Apple closing at, say, $400, that means that what is called the "strike price" is $400 per share. That means when you have vested in those shares and you want to exercise them (convert them to actual stock), YOU PAY $40M to Apple. For those options to be of any value to you, the market price needs to be ABOVE $400 per share. So suppose they vest in a year, and at that point the stock is worth $300 per share. Then those options are worthless and you'd ignore them. But suppose at that point the stock is worth $500 per share? Then, if you want to exercise them, you do what is called a "cashless transaction" where Apple takes those 100,000 shares, sells them for $500 per share ($50M), pays for the options ($40M), and gives you the net ($10M). The IRS makes you pay Capital Gains taxes on that net $10M. So no, these guys are not being handed $40M-$60M. They are being handed an incentive to work to increase the value of the stock for the benefit of all shareholders. So in this example, if the stock price goes up from $400 per share, they can make money. If the stock price drops below $400 per share, then they don't.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      but some of them did actually read the article

      So if they're not options, but rather are "restricted stock units", that means you are paying out irrespective of stock performance. *unless the whole company goes "pop"*

      You get more if the stock goes up, but if it drops by 50%, the execs will still get bucket loads of cash. Nice deal........

      I'm not an Apple shareholder, but if I was, I would have asking why the grant wasn't based on options - but perhaps the Apple board think the shareholders are idiots and won't spot the difference (or don't care even if they do).......

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