Apple executives sell $200 million in stock
Members of Apple's top brass sold a million shares of company stock Thursday, totaling $200 million in value and helping to send the stock price down $4.57.
According to Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune Brainstorm-Tech, four Apple executives sold 850,000 shares of stock worth of fully vested stock Thursday morning, when Apple opened the day at an all-time high. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook sold the largest amount -- 300,000 shares -- earning him a total of $68.8 million. $32 million of that was set aside for taxes.
Two weeks ago, Cook was awarded nearly $22 million in stock- and cash-based compensation. He assumed the role of interim CEO from January to June of 2009 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was recovering from liver transplant surgery.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, sold 200,000 shares which cleared at $45.98 million. In addition, senior vice presidents Phil Schiller, worldwide product marketing, and Ron Johnson, retail operations, combined for 350,000 shares at $80 million.
All four executives cleared a combined $195.2 million before taxes on the stock sale. They were issued the restricted shares on Dec. 14, 2005, and the shares became fully vested on Wednesday.
Another three senior staffers -- Bertrand Serlet, Scott Forstall and Robert Mansfield -- also sold some shares to cover their tax burden. Together, the three of them were granted 250,000 restricted shares in 2005.
A strong market performance since the unveiling of the iPad in January has propelled AAPL stock to new heights. Apple temporarily surpassed the market cap of U.S. retail giant Walmart weeks ago, and the two companies have remained neck-and-neck for weeks. Based on market cap, Apple is the fourth-largest U.S. company, ahead of Berkshire Hathaway and behind only Exxon Mobil, Microsoft and Walmart.
According to Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune Brainstorm-Tech, four Apple executives sold 850,000 shares of stock worth of fully vested stock Thursday morning, when Apple opened the day at an all-time high. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook sold the largest amount -- 300,000 shares -- earning him a total of $68.8 million. $32 million of that was set aside for taxes.
Two weeks ago, Cook was awarded nearly $22 million in stock- and cash-based compensation. He assumed the role of interim CEO from January to June of 2009 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was recovering from liver transplant surgery.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, sold 200,000 shares which cleared at $45.98 million. In addition, senior vice presidents Phil Schiller, worldwide product marketing, and Ron Johnson, retail operations, combined for 350,000 shares at $80 million.
All four executives cleared a combined $195.2 million before taxes on the stock sale. They were issued the restricted shares on Dec. 14, 2005, and the shares became fully vested on Wednesday.
Another three senior staffers -- Bertrand Serlet, Scott Forstall and Robert Mansfield -- also sold some shares to cover their tax burden. Together, the three of them were granted 250,000 restricted shares in 2005.
A strong market performance since the unveiling of the iPad in January has propelled AAPL stock to new heights. Apple temporarily surpassed the market cap of U.S. retail giant Walmart weeks ago, and the two companies have remained neck-and-neck for weeks. Based on market cap, Apple is the fourth-largest U.S. company, ahead of Berkshire Hathaway and behind only Exxon Mobil, Microsoft and Walmart.
Comments
Another three senior staffers -- Serlet Bertrand, Scott Forstall and Robert Mansfield -- also sold some shares to cover their tax burden. Together, the three of them were granted 250,000 restricted shares in 2005.
It's actually Bertrand Serlet.
EDIT:
Thanks for the correction, AI.
So any trolls that say something to the effect of "Executives are bailing! APPLE IS DOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!" are wrong.
Remember, executives can't just sell stock as they want. They have to file papers a long time before the intended sale date. That date just happened to be the same day as the (then) all-time high.
So any trolls that say something to the effect of "Executives are bailing! APPLE IS DOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!" are wrong.
OK then how about "They're smart enough to sell right before iPad is released."?
Or do you think that pure coincidence?
Remember, executives can't just sell stock as they want. They have to file papers a long time before the intended sale date. That date just happened to be the same day as the (then) all-time high...
Your thinking short term, these executives knew well in advance the stock would be high before a release of a new product.
The very fact that they are selling goes to show they don't believe the stock is going to keep go up, rather it's going to trend down for some reason or several reasons. Likely they believe the iPad is not going to be such a success as they lead people to believe.
After all there is a huge cost barrier to the iPad and there's a recession going on. The iPad is not a standalone device, it requires a investment in a computer to make it work, so that limits it's sales to those who already have a computer and need another device. It's already been shown it's going to take sales away from the iPod Touch.
Also it's just a matter of time before publishers realize they can just sell their content directly to the computer users and make all the profit and undercut Apple's 30% iBookStore commission.
The consumer will decide they can get the same content cheaper on their computers and not have to buy a $500 or more device to read e-books.
Also the fact that Apple just added 30,000 free e-books to the iBookStore gives customers a lot of reading material without having to buy anything. I'm sure publishers really loved that move, they want the whole iBookStore's eyeballs to themselves and customers buying instead of freeloading.
Once people find out about the hundreds of thousands of free e-books available (look for my post in Temporary Insanity Forum for links) and realize it's going to be a lot of work transferring them to the iPad, they will decide to just use their computer in the first place, has more storage too.
OK then how about "They're smart enough to sell right before iPad is released."?
Or do you think that pure coincidence?
We know you're here just to troll, but this is just WEAK.
I also expect to see more cool ways to have your iPhone interact with your iPad in the next iPhone OS releases. It will be cool to see what they come up with.
To sum it up, this stock is making me smile!
This is normal activity and some of the proceeds from these sales are usually used to pay taxes.
We know you're here just to troll, but this is just WEAK.
Just think. If he had been on of the lucky few who received a portion of those RSUs, he could then officially move out of his Mom's moldy basement!
Your thinking short term, these executives knew well in advance the stock would be high before a release of a new product.
The very fact that they are selling goes to show they don't believe the stock is going to keep go up, rather it's going to trend down for some reason or several reasons. Likely they believe the iPad is not going to be such a success as they lead people to believe.
After all there is a huge cost barrier to the iPad and there's a recession going on. The iPad is not a standalone device, it requires a investment in a computer to make it work, so that limits it's sales to those who already have a computer and need another device. It's already been shown it's going to take sales away from the iPod Touch.
Also it's just a matter of time before publishers realize they can just sell their content directly to the computer users and make all the profit and undercut Apple's 30% iBookStore commission.
The consumer will decide they can get the same content cheaper on their computers and not have to buy a $500 or more device to read e-books.
Also the fact that Apple just added 30,000 free e-books to the iBookStore gives customers a lot of reading material without having to buy anything. I'm sure publishers really loved that move, they want the whole iBookStore's eyeballs to themselves and customers buying instead of freeloading.
Once people find out about the hundreds of thousands of free e-books available (look for my post in Temporary Insanity Forum for links) and realize it's going to be a lot of work transferring them to the iPad, they will decide to just use their computer in the first place, has more storage too.
So are you putting your money where your mouth is and shorting Apple stock?
We know you're here just to troll, but this is just WEAK.
So now you're able to predict the future in addition to cheerlead?
OK then how about "They're smart enough to sell right before iPad is released."?
Or do you think that pure coincidence?
Certainly not a coincidence - of course they knew the launch date of the iPad and EVERYONE knew that the hype surround the iPad release date would be *likely* to have a positive impact on the stock price - so what would YOU do? you are sitting on stock options that are worth millions - but essentially have no value at all really until you SELL them - history tells us that stock prices spike around the time folks are expecting something miraculous to happen with the company's products - and then perhaps dip again when enough people get their hands on said product and it turns out to fall short of the wet dream you had with Bo Derek's poster over your bed when you where 12 and the flame wars begin between those who blast the company for a product that coulda, shoulda, woulda be better if only if.... vs those who gloss over any shortcomings and make excuses based on personal opinion and heresay and say things like just wait till the next update THAT one will be freakin' AWESOME. While the majority of us just sigh and think - give it a rest you guys - and when you get a chance join the rest of us in the real world for awhile would ya please.
Something that I think would be big news would be an executive timing their sale of ALL theirs shares on the day the stock reaches its LOWEST point - then I think I might be concerned that person knows something that the rest of us are about to find out the hard way.
So perhaps it is interesting when so-and-so sells a million shares - and it happens to coincide with the 52 week high (or whatever combination of factors) but perhaps more interesting would be a chart showing how many shares are held by each and every executive - when they are fully vested or matured or sellable or whatever - so you could see how many he still has. To look at it another way if you herd a hollywood celebrity is selling off 20 cars - that might seem significant - but if you then find out it is Jay Leno and he will still have 200 cars left in his collection after the sale (just making numbers here) does that change the impact of the story? (actually Jay selling ANY of his cars might be newsworthy) the point is that any single data point without any context or historical trending etc isn't very useful information.
So now you can predict the future too?
When it comes to Apple, it's not difficult. The iPad is an OBVIOUS win.
By the way, target was raised to $300 today. Which seems a bit too conservative, actually.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/...l_7467448.html
I've heard people mention they add trolls to their ignore list. How do I do that? The trolls on here are annoying. Reading their comments is a waste of my time. I can't even imagine wasting my time to reply to them.
Don't bother. Their name still shows up when they post, just the contents of their post are hidden, with an option on the side to reveal them. The only real way for an Ignore List to to work is to hide their posts completely.
Each of the officers acquired an EQUAL number of new shares on Wednesday via restricted stock options as follows: COO Tim Cook - 300K, CFO Peter Oppenheimer - 200K, SVP Retail Ron Johnson - 200K and SVP Phil Shiller - 150K. So the net change in stock ownership for each is NIL, since they acquired an equal number of shares the day before selling (however they netted a tidy sum of dollars in the process - the purpose of stock options) . And of course it wouldn't be a PED article if it even bothered to mention the requirements under SEC Form 4 Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Oh wait I think he just edited the article to bury a mention of that in the text. Nice. And a brief check this morning shows that the Apple stock price has rebounded nicely to 231.48USD share price, actually higher than when the officers exercised their options yesterday. As an options holder myself (different company) - not only are there disclosure and action rules to follow, the options often carry time limits as well. Silly ol' Phil. Perhaps a refresher course in financial jounralism 101 would fill-in some of the writing potholes he puts out there as an Apple "skeptic".
Phillip is really something else. He changed the headline because earlier on he had been using the terms "dump" and "insider trading" - I'm sure until someone on the editorial staff happened to glance at his entry and told him to correct it. Of course he missed the whole story.
Each of the officers acquired an EQUAL number of new shares on Wednesday via restricted stock options as follows: COO Tim Cook - 300K, CFO Peter Oppenheimer - 200K, SVP Retail Ron Johnson - 200K and SVP Phil Shiller - 150K. So the net change in stock ownership for each is NIL, since they acquired an equal number of shares the day before selling (however they netted a tidy sum of dollars in the process - the purpose of stock options) . And of course it wouldn't be a PED article if it even bothered to mention the requirements under SEC Form 4 Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Oh wait I think he just edited the article to bury a mention of that in the text. Nice. And a brief check this morning shows that the Apple stock price has rebounded nicely to 231.48USD share price, actually higher than when the officers exercised their options yesterday. As an options holder myself (different company) - not only are there disclosure and action rules to follow, the options often carry time limits as well. Silly ol' Phil. Perhaps a refresher course in financial jounralism 101 would fill-in some of the writing potholes he puts out there as an Apple "skeptic".
It's all about the hits. Excellent post, by the way.
I've heard people mention they add trolls to their ignore list. How do I do that? The trolls on here are annoying. Reading their comments is a waste of my time. I can't even imagine wasting my time to reply to them.
Go to the User CP (control panel) at the top of the thread window, click it open and down the left side find edit ignore list. Put the tag of the contributor you wish to ignore in there and voila! they are collapsed automatically. To ensure the lowest possible visibility, it's always nice to respond to a troll when you feel compelled to do so without quoting them in your response.
Certainly not a coincidence - of course they knew the launch date of the iPad and EVERYONE knew that the hype surround the iPad release date would be *likely* to have a positive impact on the stock price - so what would YOU do? you are sitting on stock options that are worth millions - but essentially have no value at all really until you SELL them - history tells us that stock prices spike around the time folks are expecting something miraculous to happen with the company's products - and then perhaps dip again when enough people get their hands on said product and it turns out to fall short of the wet dream you had with Bo Derek's poster over your bed when you where 12 and the flame wars begin between those who blast the company for a product that coulda, shoulda, woulda be better if only if.... vs those who gloss over any shortcomings and make excuses based on personal opinion and heresay and say things like just wait till the next update THAT one will be freakin' AWESOME. While the majority of us just sigh and think - give it a rest you guys - and when you get a chance join the rest of us in the real world for awhile would ya please.
Something that I think would be big news would be an executive timing their sale of ALL theirs shares on the day the stock reaches its LOWEST point - then I think I might be concerned that person knows something that the rest of us are about to find out the hard way.
So perhaps it is interesting when so-and-so sells a million shares - and it happens to coincide with the 52 week high (or whatever combination of factors) but perhaps more interesting would be a chart showing how many shares are held by each and every executive - when they are fully vested or matured or sellable or whatever - so you could see how many he still has. To look at it another way if you herd a hollywood celebrity is selling off 20 cars - that might seem significant - but if you then find out it is Jay Leno and he will still have 200 cars left in his collection after the sale (just making numbers here) does that change the impact of the story? (actually Jay selling ANY of his cars might be newsworthy) the point is that any single data point without any context or historical trending etc isn't very useful information.
Exactly.