Apple retail exec earns $113 million from options

.......did he come into work on Monday morning or call in sick?

...and he well deserves every penny he made off his efforts.

Well Done!

Ronny got PAID!! Can I borrow a dollar or two... thousand?

Why does the guy deserve every penny? Have you sat at the guys desk? Maybe Steve called him up everyday and told him exactly what to do. Maybe he got all his ideas from his subordinates. Maybe he doesn't do very much and is merely trading in on a privileged education. From my perspective, he didn't do anything that many other people couldn't have done if given the opportunity. Perhaps, you are just generous and for you everybody who puts in an honest day work deserves a hundred million dollar no risk pay day that is paid for by the stock holders who are taking a risk.

Moreover, nobody deserves that type of money for the amount of work that was done here. Especially when options are legally backdated (thanks to lobbyists paying off Congress). Options are supposed to be an incentive for Executives to move the company forward by placing executives in the same position as stockholders. However, here companies like Apple can legally pick days when the stock is trading at its lowest dollar amount after the fact. This guy was guaranteed a pay day no matter how well the company performed. He was very luck he happened to be called up by Jobs to run the retail division. If Jobs would have called up you, there is a good chance you would be getting the pay day instead.

None of this is to say if I were in the same position I wouldn't cash in. I just wouldn't be so smug as to think I somehow deserve the money.

If Steve had to call him everyday and tell him what to do:

a) He wouldn't have been given such a generous stock grant b) He would have been fired.

Ron Johnson does have a privileged education; his MBA is from Harvard, and he has a Bachelors in economics from Standford. He also was Vice President of Merchandising at Target. Perhaps, just perhaps, he was picked to lead retailing based on both his educational and professional background. And perhaps he worked hard at both, and thus did earn this generous pay day, which would not have been so generous if the retail stores didn't help grow Apple's top line, and thus, their stock price.

Lastly, should you ever decide to become a lobbyist, here's a tip: If you want to influence backdating regulations, you'd be better off lobbying the SEC than Congress.

If Steve had to call him everyday and tell him what to do:

a) He wouldn't have been given such a generous stock grant b) He would have been fired.

Since Steve tells basically everybody what to do, there's no reason he'd be fired. In fact, if he did anything Steve didn't like, he'd more likely would be fired.

And of course he'd be granted such options. Why? Because company executives are all part of the same exclusive club, and can't help but just dumping money in each other's laps. Rarely does it have anything to do with ability to work, or the job done.

It actually comes down to when he got the options, not what he's done since. If he got the options 5 years ago, they actually pre-paid him for his efforts (i.e. wasn't being compensated for what he did, and even if they succeeded despite him, he'd still get his cash).

And thank god Apple never got rid of its stock option plan like so many other companies did. It would just make it so much harder for the little guys like Robby here to get hired otherwise.

Oh come on, just about anybody could sell Apple's present product portfolio. To be honest, the iPod sold mostly because of word of mouth, and well the idea of opening Applestores, even if it was Ronnie's (I doubt it), was something that all of us who had to put up with 3rd party Apple retailers 10 years ago, were suggesting on pointless bulletin boards like this one.

So yes, I think I could do his job (except maybe wearing the suit, and having to waste a year of my life doing an MBA)

.... and having to waste a year of my life doing an MBA)

I did that, but then I got tired of it and broke up with her....

AAPL will be breaking $190 any day now.