Apple exec nets $113m

The senior vice president of retail operations at Apple exercised 700,000 options at $23.72 each on Friday, October 26th -- the same day the Cupertino-based company shipped Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard -- and sold those shares on the same day for between $185-$185.21 each. Apple's retail chief Ron Johnson earned roughly $113 million before taxes on the stock sales, of which more than 606,000 shares were sold at $185 each with the remaining shares selling for between $185.01 and $185.21. Johnson acquired the shares under Apple's 1997 Employee Stock Option Plan, according to AppleInsider.

Ron Johnson is credited as the brainchild of Apple's Genius Bar help counters, and under his direction Apple's retail division experienced record growth levels that raked in $1.25 billion in revenue during the company's September quarter.

Johnson's efforts helped the Cupertino-based company6 open 12 new stores during its previous quarter, bringing the total retail location count to 197. Apple stores were responsible for selling 473,000 Macs last quarter alone, and drew in more than 31 million customers for an average of 12,500 customers per week.

by MacNN Staff