Tag: options

Bloomberg columnist Graef Crystal points out that Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a costly mistake by trading in his options too soon. “Jobs in January 2000 received the largest option grant in history: 20 million shares with a present value that I estimated were US$471 million,” writes Crystal. “The option promptly sank under water, as did a second option covering another 7.5 million shares, which was granted in October 2001.

Executives at Apple have exercised stock options for approximately US$154 million so far this year, according to insider transaction data from Thomson Financial. Apple execs have sold a total of 5.4 million shares in 2004. The latest are Apple senior vice presidents Avadis Tevanian Jr. and Jonathan Rubinstein, who cashed out options last week. Tevanian sold 350,000 shares for $11.2 million, while Rubinstein sold 300,000 shares for $9.6 million.