An executive selling off their shares in the company they work for always makes for news, but when the amount in question is 95 percent and the executive is none other than iOS chief Scott Forstall, it could make headlines.
CNNMoney is reporting that Apple senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall now finds himself $38.7 million richer as of last Friday. That’s because the executive parted with 64,151 shares “at prices ranging from $601 to $605” -- not the highest the stock has been lately, but certainly high enough.
The sale amounts to 95 percent of Forstall’s shares in Apple Inc., but fear not -- the iOS boss isn’t going anywhere, he’s simply taking advantage of the remaining shares granted to him at a retention bonus in 2008, which originally totalled 120,000.
“Forstall still holds 2,988 Apple shares worth, at Friday's closing price, $1.8 million,” the report notes.
There’s another very good reason for Forstall to stick around: The executive has two additional retention bonuses in the years ahead, with 100,000 restricted stock units granted in 2010 which will vest in 2014, and another 150,000 RSUs granted last year -- half of which vests in 2013 and the remainder in 2016, assuming he sticks with Team Apple that long.
All of this dough is on top of Forstall’s annual salary of $700,000, and should Apple’s stock balloon to $1,000 per share as many predict, the iOS chief will be looking at quite a pile of moolah for his hard work on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad over the years.
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