APPLE’S TIM COOK SET TO COLLECT $120M IN SHARES THIS WEEK.

Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook is set to collect stock worth about US$120 million this week thanks to a run-up in shares of the iphone maker.

On Friday, Cook stands to receive 280,000 shares tied to his continued service as chief executive. He’ll get as many as 280,000 additional shares if Apple’s stock-market return over the preceding three years exceeds at least two-thirds of the firms in the S&P 500.

Apple returned 119 per cent from Aug. 25, 2015, through Tuesday’s close, including reinvested dividends, outperforming more than 80 per cent of companies in the index. Barring a major collapse this week, that all but ensures Cook will collect the maximum number of shares for his fifth consecutive payout at the top end of the range.

The executive said in 2015 that he planned to give most of his fortune to charity. On Tuesday, an Apple regulatory filing said Cook had donated 23,215 of his current Apple shares.

Cook, 57, gets annual instalments from a massive award of restricted stock he received in 2011, when he succeeded Steve Jobs. It was initially set to vest in two increments over a decade. In 2013, at Cook’s request, the board’s compensation committee tied about a third of those shares to Apple’s relative stock performance versus the broader market.

This month, Apple became the first U.s.-based company to reach US$1 trillion in market value. It was worth about US$350 billion when Jobs died.

“I don’t really think about it,” Cook said in an interview in February, when Bloomberg asked him about the milestone. “I still view Apple as a pretty small company, the way that we operate.”

Last year, about half of Cook’s 560,000 shares were withheld to cover taxes. The rest were sold, netting him about US$43 million. Aside from the stock, Cook also gets a Us$3-million salary and earned a Us$9.33-million cash bonus in 2017. He hasn’t received new equity grants since 2011.

The CEO said in 2015 that he plans to give most of his fortune to charity. He’s currently worth about US$700 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

I STILL VIEW APPLE AS A PRETTY SMALL COMPANY.