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When former Dixons retail executive John Browett signed on with Apple in April, he got a big potential payday: 100,000 shares of Apple in the form of restricted stock units, or RSUs, vesting over five years.
At current prices, that package was worth more than $60 million.
Now that he's left the company, following a botched plan to cut staffing at Apple's retail stores, he's giving up all but $3 million of that.
Like stock options, RSUs vest over time. Unlike stock options, there's no exercise price: You own the shares outright once they vest.
When he signed on, Apple agreed to give Browett the first tranche—5,000 shares—on his six-month anniversary. That was October 20.
On October 23, Browett got his shares, worth $3 million. Apple withheld 2,159 shares for payment of taxes—RSUs, unlike options, are taxed as ordinary income. That left Browett with $1.7 million in shares.
Not a bad payday for six not-very-successful months, but it pales compared to the fortune that Apple executives have made over the past few years as Apple's stock has gone on an iPhone-fueled tear.
If Apple offered Browett any other compensation, like acceleration of vesting, that hasn't shown up in its filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission. But given that his departure has been widely described as a firing, it's most likely that Apple paid Browett exactly what he was owed and no more.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
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