Edible Apple

With Apple’s share price in the lower $600 range, Apple’s Scott Forstall decided to cash out on 95% of his Apple shares this past Friday by selling 64,151 shares for a net take of $38.7 million according to a filed SEC Form 4.

According to Phillip Elmer-DeWitt, Forstall’s holdings were the result of a bonus of 120,000 shares originally granted in 2008 and which vested last month. So for all the pundits ready to scream that the sky is falling, note that Forstall wasn’t able to sell his shares up until recently.

Although the sale represented 95% of Forstall’s current Apple holdings, that doesn’t mean he’s getting ready to leave the company. He has two more retention bonuses in the wings:

100,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) that were granted in 2010 and vest in 2014
150,000 RSUs granted in 2011 that vest in equal parts in 2013 and 2016, provided he stays with the company

And this, of course, is in addition to Forstall’s annual salary which checks in at $700,000 a year.