Tim Cook's 2023 Apple award pays out at 171% after a 76th-percentile return

Tim Cook received 374,541 Apple shares on October 1 as a 2023 stock grant that vested at approximately 171% of target, as per calculations by Cryptopolitan.

Apple ranked 115th out of 480 companies in the S&P 500 on a three-year shareholder return basis, at 90.67%, a Form 4 filed with the SEC showed.

219,030 units grew to 374,541 shares on a 76th-percentile rank

The grant date is October 1, 2023 and the target is 219,030 restricted stock units. At settlement, each unit will convert into one share of common stock, the filing said.

The payout was pegged to total shareholder return, the change in price plus reinvested dividends, relative to the rest of the S&P 500 over fiscal 2024 through fiscal 2026. A rank in or above the 85th percentile paid 200% of the target, the 55th percentile paid 100% and the 25th percentile paid 25%.

Under the 25th percentile, there was no vesting. Values between these points were interpolated linearly.

Apple’s percentile was 76.20. The beginning value was $175.08, the average close over the first 20 trading days and the ending value $333.82 over the last 20.

Apple’s target of 219,030 units became 374,541 shares because the company’s rank fell between the 55th and 85th percentiles.

Those 374,541 shares that vested are worth around $123.7 million at the $330.32 withholding price, according to Cryptopolitan’s calculations.

Taxes took 199,038 shares before a $63.8 million sale

Apple withheld 199,038 shares to settle taxes, worth $65,746,232 at $330.32 per share. A day later, on Oct. 2, Cook sold 191,753 shares for about $63.8 million.

Sales were in four parcels from $330.66 to $334.50. All four were carried out under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted by Cook on May 28, 2026. The biggest lot was 88,239 shares at an average weighted price of $333.26.

Cook also gave away 26,325 shares on October 2. He retains 3,237,843 Apple shares via his trust.

Apple shares are trading at around $333.63, near its 52-week high of $345.34.

Apple eclipsed Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of about $4.88 trillion on July 17, Cryptopolitan reported. Its shares were up about 22% at the time for the year.

Apple hadn’t been #1 since April 2025.

On September 1, Cook ceded the CEO role to hardware engineering chief John Ternus and became executive chair, Cryptopolitan reported. His time as chief executive covered much of the three-year window for the award.

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