U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Six 'U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission' stories May 2012 - December 2015

SEC backs shareholder’s call for vote on accelerating diversity among Apple’s directors & senior execs

Ben Lovejoy Dec 31 2015 - 4:11 am PT

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Update: Apple has decided to include the resolution, but recommends voting against it, arguing that its existing diversity policies cover appointments at all levels within the company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has said that a resolution submitted by an Apple investor to accelerate diversity on the company’s board and among senior execs should be included in proxy materials sent to shareholders. Bloomberg reports that proposal was prompted by a conversation the shareholder had with his teenage son.

The proposal for an “accelerated recruitment policy” was submitted in September by Antonio Avian Maldonado II, who owns 645 Apple shares. He said he was spurred to act after looking at photos of the directors with his teenage son, who asked him why nearly everyone was white.

Apple rejected the proposal, stating that it was an attempt to micromanage recruitment. Apple told the SEC that it was actively trying to attract minorities but “has no power to ensure that its recruits will accept offers.” The SEC, however, does not accept Apple’s position …

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Apple spends $700K/year on keeping CEO Tim Cook safe – SEC filing

Ben Lovejoy Aug 7 2015 - 4:21 am PT

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One of the numbers disclosed in Apple’s Schedule 14A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission was the amount Apple spends annually on protecting CEO Tim Cook. Patently Apple spotted the entry listing “security expenses in the amount of $699,133.”

Tim Cook rarely has much visible security when seen at public events, but bodyguards are doubtless there in the background. It’s likely that a sizeable chunk of the expenditure protects his surprisingly modest four-bedroom home …
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Apple’s Japanese bond sale will raise more than expected, at $2B

Ben Lovejoy Jun 4 2015 - 6:52 am PT

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Apple’s first ever Japanese bond sale will raise more than had been previously estimated. An SEC filing reveals that the sale will raise ¥250B ($2B), more than the ¥200 billion ($1.6B) which had been reported earlier.

Apple is selling the bonds in Japanese yen due to the extremely low interest rates in the country, with Apple offering a rate of just 0.35%, paid twice a year in June and December. Goldman Sachs, one of the two underwriters of the bond issue, said that the market would welcome the offering.

“It’s Apple’s first time issuing in yen. Their ratings, credit fundamentals and familiarity within the Japanese market are very high,” said a Goldman Sachs banker. “The outcome proves how much the market welcomed seeing this issuer come up.”

Although Apple has huge cash reserves, the majority of this is held overseas and cannot be repatriated back to the U.S. without large tax liabilities. It is cheaper for the company to borrow money to fund its stock buyback program and to fund dividend payments. Apple announced in April that it will spend $200B by the end of March 2017 on a mix of share repurchases and dividend payments.

Photo: randomwire.com

Apple’s retail head Angela Ahrendts has stock withheld for tax purposes (Updated)

Ben Lovejoy Jun 6 2014 - 12:35 am PT

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Burberry Group Plc CEO Angela Ahrendts At The London Stock Exchange

SEC filings show that Angela Ahrendts had half of her first allocation of AAPL stock withheld on 1st June – the day it vested, and just one month after joining the company – reports ComputerWorld.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ahrendts received 16,264 shares in Apple stock when it vested June 1 […]

~~Ahrendts sold 8,331 shares that same day for a pre-tax total of $5,273,523.~~

The full value of her stock, which is likely to vest (become eligible for sale) over several years, will add up to $78.5M at the current share price. Her total compensation in her final year as CEO of Burberry was $4.4M – though she did also get a clothing allowance of $42,000 and a car allowance of $30,000 (only at a fashion company could you get more to spend on clothes than a car …).

Selling half your stock at the very first opportunity doesn’t seem to send the best of signals a month into the role, but I guess she needs to buy a house out in the Valley and those aren’t exactly cheap right now.

The withholding of the shares came just over a week before a 7-to-1 stock split, on Monday. The stock split should make AAPL shares more attractive to smaller investors, a shift that could make the share price more volatile.

Via Fortune

Update: These shares were withheld for tax purposes by Apple not sold on the open market

Size of Carl Icahn’s AAPL stock purchase revealed: $1.85B at the time, now around $2.5B

Ben Lovejoy Nov 15 2013 - 6:21 am PT

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Photo: entrepreneur.com

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn tweeted back in August that he had taken “a large position” in Apple, but we didn’t know at the time what the number was, beyond speculation that it was more than $1B.

A regulatory filing now reveals that he purchased 3.88M shares, which at the time would have been worth $1.85B, reports Business Insider. With the increase in AAPL’s stock price, and additional purchases Icahn made since, it’s estimated that he now holds around $2.5B worth of Apple shares.

Apple’s iOS chief Scott Forstall cashes in shares worth $38.7M

Jordan Kahn May 2 2012 - 6:45 am PT

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Following Apple’s CEO Tim Cook selling off approximately 20,000 shares of company stock in March, new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission discovered by Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt show iOS chief Scott Forstall recently sold 64,151 shares worth roughly $38.7 million:

The shares were the remains of a 120,000-share retention bonus that was granted in 2008, vested last month and reduced by 55,849 shares on March 24 to pay taxes. Forstall still holds 2,988 Apple shares worth, at Friday’s closing price, $1.8 million.

Many reported the over 64k shares sold by Forstall represent 95 percent of his current holdings in Apple Inc. However, that is not entirely true, because two new retention bonuses are coming his way in in the years ahead. Those shares could be worth over quarter billion dollars—if Apple continues increasing closer to the $1,000 per share target that many analysts are expecting.

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