Apple CEO Tim Cook cashes in on $36 million in previously restricted stock

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook this week reaped the biggest chunk so far of the mega-stock grant he received when was named CEO in 2011.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, Cook said he had received 1.26 million shares of Apple stock, valued around $135 million, that previously were restricted. He now has hit the halfway point of a stock-compensation plan that could see him awarded 7 million shares by 2021.

Cook earned the bulk of the shares — 980,000 — by remaining CEO for five years. He earned the additional 280,000 shares because Apple stock outperformed more than two-thirds of the companies in the S&P 500 stock index over the past three years.

According to the filing, Cook sold $36 million worth of this stock, and forfeited another $71 million to cover taxes. He is holding the remaining shares.

Source: Market Watch