As it did in 2014, Apple withheld just over half of the total shares -- 290,836, worth about $30 million on Monday -- for tax purposes.
The half-million shares were this year's allotment under a revised schedule designed at Cook's request in 2013. Then, Apple's board modified the executive's vesting plan, which had set two large stock handouts for a massive 1 million-share grant -- after last year's stock split, equal to 7 million -- when Cook assumed the lead role at the Cupertino, Calif. company just weeks before co-founder Steve Jobs' death.
Under the revised plan, Cook's shares were to vest in equal amounts -- 560,000 shares after the 7-to-1 split -- over multiple years, and the number was to be partly tied to the company's performance. Cook could potentially lose rights to half of those shares.
The criteria Apple set was "total shareholder return" (TSR), a metric that combined share price appreciation and dividends. If, in any two-year stretch, Apple was within the top third of the S&P 500 in TSR, Cook was to receive all 560,000 RSUs (restricted stock units) slated to vest that year. However, if Apple's TSR was in the middle or bottom third, he was to receive only three-fourths (420,000 shares) or one-half (280,000 shares), respectively, of the allocation.
For the span Aug. 25, 2013, to Aug. 24, 2015, Apple's TSR was 46%, easily in the top third, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Cook therefore was given control of the entire 560,000-share award.
"Apple's TSR for the two-year period was 76.76%, which ranked 46th of the 458 companies that were included in the S&P 500 for the entire period and placed Apple in the 90th percentile," Apple said.
Cook still has 4.76 million RSUs coming to him, with a pair of 700,000-share awards due in August 2016 and August 2021, assuming he is still with the company then. The remaining balance of 3,360,000 will vest in six equal annual installments starting in 2016 and ending in 2021.
The Apple CEO currently owns almost 1.2 million shares, worth approximately $132.1 million at Thursday's closing price.
Also this month, another prominent CEO -- Microsoft's Satya Nadella -- was slated to vest a large number of shares from prior awards. According to a Microsoft proxy statement from February, Nadella was to vest nearly 266,000 shares in August, a total worth approximately $11.7 million at Thursdays closing bell price.
Nadella's long-term compensation is heavily weighted on the back end of a multi-year deal under which he is to receive at least 450,000 shares and a maximum of 2.7 million shares in three equal chunks between 2019 and 2021. The maximum award, if he received it, would be worth about $118.5 million at Microsoft's current share price.
Nadella owned approximately 1.3 million Microsoft shares as of mid-August, the last time he filed with the SEC. At yesterday's closing price, his holdings were valued at $55.1 million.