Tim Cook cashes in $121 million of Apple stock

Apple CEO Tim
Cook.
Getty

• Tim Cook has cashed in $121 million of stock awards
  just weeks after Apple became a trillion-dollar
  company.
• More than half, or $63.7 million, of the share options
  were withheld for tax reasons, while Cook pocketed the
  remaining $57 million.
• The stock awards are in addition to his salary and
  bonus scheme, which rose 46% to $12.8 million last
  year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken advantage of the company’s soaring
share price and cashed in $121 million worth of stock awards.

Just weeks after Apple became the first US company
to break the $1 trillion valuation milestone, Cook was
awarded 560,000 in shares by the iPhone maker last Friday,
according to an SEC filing.

The stock options were worth a total of $121 million before tax,
and Cook wasted no time in cashing them in. More than half, or
$63.7 million, of the options were withheld for tax reasons,
while Cook pocketed the remaining $57 million.

The Financial Times said the stock
vesting ranks among the biggest in years. Cook received stock
worth $89 million last year, and $136 million in 2016 after he
passed his five-year anniversary as CEO.

The stock awards are in addition to his salary and bonus scheme.
The Apple boss took home $12.8 million last year, comprising his
$3 million base salary and a $9.3 million cash bonus. It was a 46% raise on 2016.

Cook’s net worth is estimated to be $625
million. He has said he is not motivated by money and plans
to give away all his fortune to charity when he dies.