Apple executives receive over $30M each in vested stock bonus
Members of Apple's leadership team on Monday reaped a batch of vested restricted stock units worth more than $30 million, a bonus for exceeding board-mandated performance metrics.

Apple head of retail Angela Ahrendts.
Revealed in a series of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings made public on Wednesday, retail chief Angela Ahrendts, CFO Luca Maestri and COO Jeff Williams each saw 130,528 RSUs convert into common Apple stock. The lode was worth $30.3 million at the end of trading today.
Apple withheld 68,530 shares from the awards to satisfy tax laws.
The bonus, meted out on a yearly basis, is derived from a target number of RSUs scheduled to vest based on Apple's total shareholder return relative to other companies in the S&P 500. This week's award accounted for TSR performance between Sept. 27, 2015 and Sept. 29, 2017.
As detailed in the documents, TSR is calculated based on a change in AAPL share price during the three-year period. At the start date in 2015, Apple stock was valued at $113.15, while the ending value as of Sept. 29 was calculated to be $234.62, adjusting for dividends. The figures peg Apple's TSR at 107.36 percent for the observed period.
In comparison to other companies in the S&P 500, Apple's performance ranked 51 out of 454 firms, putting it in the 89th percentile.
As with past awards, the bonus structure allows for between 0 and 200 percent of the target number of RSUs to vest, depending on performance. Anything above the 85th percentile satisfies requirements for a full 200 percent award.

Apple head of retail Angela Ahrendts.
Revealed in a series of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings made public on Wednesday, retail chief Angela Ahrendts, CFO Luca Maestri and COO Jeff Williams each saw 130,528 RSUs convert into common Apple stock. The lode was worth $30.3 million at the end of trading today.
Apple withheld 68,530 shares from the awards to satisfy tax laws.
The bonus, meted out on a yearly basis, is derived from a target number of RSUs scheduled to vest based on Apple's total shareholder return relative to other companies in the S&P 500. This week's award accounted for TSR performance between Sept. 27, 2015 and Sept. 29, 2017.
As detailed in the documents, TSR is calculated based on a change in AAPL share price during the three-year period. At the start date in 2015, Apple stock was valued at $113.15, while the ending value as of Sept. 29 was calculated to be $234.62, adjusting for dividends. The figures peg Apple's TSR at 107.36 percent for the observed period.
In comparison to other companies in the S&P 500, Apple's performance ranked 51 out of 454 firms, putting it in the 89th percentile.
As with past awards, the bonus structure allows for between 0 and 200 percent of the target number of RSUs to vest, depending on performance. Anything above the 85th percentile satisfies requirements for a full 200 percent award.
Comments
Maybe bring the factories and jobs back from China and only get $1million bonuses!
Maybe even pay a living wage, stop using 87 polluting 747's to fly iPhones 7,000 miles to the US from China.
If Toyota can build quality cars in Alabama (of all places), surely Apple can build iPhones here in the US as well!
Oooof! Just say'n. It's like eating your leg for dinner. Not much future in it.
Building these devices requires rare elements mined in China. China won’t allow access to them unless you are prepared to manufacture your gear in the country.
On the bonuses, I also think they are obscene, perverse or of just plain wrong, if you prefer weaker adjective. Of course that's just an opinion but I'm sure it's a majority opinion.
They can be tackled at government level through taxes and some governments are looking at taxation as a way to deincentivise the 'misuse' of of these mechanisms. Especially when the short term gain (the reason for the bonus) does long term harm to company, involves corrupt practices or puts unnecessary burden on governments.
If you find a company that is paying bonuses that bother you then don't buy their stuff.
If, as you claim, that the vast majority think the same as you, then I'm sure that the companies will do as you say pretty darn quick.
Odd that it hasn't happened as yet though, isn't it?
Compensation to managers is important but there’s a limit.
The notion that bonuses are the cause of the nation's ills is beyond ridiculous.
The UK government raised taxes and in return they gave the population a decade of austerity, claiming there was no money then turned around and handed billions to bail out failing banks and then even more billions to shore up themselves up after a disastrous election. This was nothing to do with high bonuses or shady corporation tax setups.
Increasing taxes just gives them more money to p*ss up the wall. I wouldn't give a government more money until it proves it can properly manage what it's already got.
Of those that do, I'm sure most feel the same way as I do as these kinds of executive million dollar bonuses are universally scorned.
Apart from being unmerited IMO.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/18/america-ceo-worker-pay-gap-new-data-what-can-we-do
I can buy an iPad, iPhone, Beats headphones and such at any Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, phone store, etc. What I cannot get just anywhere is Mac stuff and an extensive collection of HomeKit stuff.
The origins of the Apple Stores was the atrocious state of the retail chain. One of the things that made the places worth going to was the fact that they had the full line of Apple HW, had a broad collection of accessories to include music, photography and video stuff and a lot of software. Then they also had a staff that was highly knowledgeable concerning what Apple sold and how it could be used. That was Ron Johnson and Steve Jobs.
I can go to the Apple Store today and buy a Mac, but cannot buy a hub despite Apple moving steadily toward designs that require them. No music creation or photography stuff, no video cameras, but I can buy the same DJI helicopter that can be bought at any Wal-Mart. The staff these days are many times people who do not even know their way around a Macintosh and have only the slightest concept of what can be done on one.
It is not uncommon to hear some people call the places the "iiPhone Store" which is essentially what they have become. To quote they guy in the White House: Sad!
This all happened under her oversight.