Jobs pays $296M in taxes on stock gift

On heels of the vesting of his 10 million share grant, Apple CEO Jobs has sold nearly half of his gift to pay Uncle Sam. According to a new report, Jobs has sold nearly 4.5 million of his shares to pay almost $300 million in taxes. AppleInsider reports that Jobs sold the shares on the same day that the shares vested to meet tax obligations on the 10 million restricted shares given to him by Apple nearly three years ago. The "net-share settlment" is used by executives to use part of their stock shares as means to pay the often large sums due on the day that a stock grant vests. Jobs sold about 4,573,553 shares at $64.66 a share to pay nearly $295.7 million in state and federal income taxes. The remaining 5,426,451 shares are worth about $325.4 million, according to the report. Apple has chosen to repurchase and retire the 4,573,553 shares from the open market to minimize the number of outstanding shares. In 2003, Apple gave Jobs the 10 million share restricted stock grant in 2003 in exchange for then worthless options--about 55 million shares on a split-adjusted basis.

Filed under: Apple