5 Apple Execs Make $29M Stock Profit in Last 7 Days

October 21st, 2004 at 3:00 PM - Reports by Brad Gibson

As shares in Apple Computer surged to near-record highs in the past week, five Apple executives seized the opportunity and sold more than 830,000 shares of stock in the company, reaping more than US$29 million in profit, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveal.

In calculations of each stock sale made by The Mac Observer, Apple Senior Vice President and Chief Software Technology Officer Avadis Tevanian reaped the most profit at $12,946,844.00. Mr. Tevanian sold all of his shares on October 18 for between $47.00 and $47.12. On that day, Appleis common share stock price closed at $47.75, up $2.25 or nearly 5%, following news of speculation that Apple would introduce an enhanced iPod Oct. 26. The week before, Apple had reported strong earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter and forecasted continued strong growth for the holiday quarter.

Nancy Heinen, a Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Apple, took home a stock profit of $9,655,649.00 when she sold 350,000 shares on Oct. 18 for between $44.72 and $44.96 a share.

Jerome York, an Apple board member, profited $2.25 million in recent Apple stock sales.

Well known Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller continued to grow his already million-plus personal fortune with the sale of over 155,000 shares for a profit of $3,757,277.10, Mr. Schiller sold his shares on Oct. 18 for between $45.20 and $45.49 a share.

Bertrand Serlet, Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, sold a little over 8,000 shares on Oct. 14 and 15 for a profit of $785,438.80.

Jerome York, an Apple board member (photo above) and Chairman, President and CEO of the private investment firm Harwinton Capital Corp., sold over 89,700 shares on Oct. 19 for a profit of $2,253,729.60. Mr. Yorkis shares sold for between $47.43 and $47.73 a share, while Appleis common share stock price closed on Oct. 19 at $47.72.

Mr. York joined Appleis board in August of 1997 and also serves as Chairman of Appleis audit committee. In December of 1999, with Mr. York on the board, Apple directors awarded Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs a $43.5 million executive jet, along with $40 million to pay taxes on the plane.

Mr. York is best known in executive business circles as the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of PC and Apple-product catalog company Micro Warehouse. In February, 2000, Mr. York, along with the Los Angeles buyout firm Freeman, Spogli, and a group of private investors including Michael Ovitz and former Northwest Airlines Chairman Gary Wilson, paid $725 million to take Micro Warehouse private.

Hit hard by competition and heavy debt, Micro Warehouse sold its North American operations to computer retailer CDW Corporation over two years later on Sept. 8, 2003 for $22 million. Three days later, what remained of Micro Warehouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a leveraged buyout left the company with a crushing debt of $100 million on outstanding accounts receivable of approximately $25 million. Mr. York resigned the day before the sale. His resignation was not announced until after the bankruptcy filing was made.

Left holding the bag were unsecured creditors. The bankrupt Micro Warehouse owed computer distributor Ingram Micro $17.9 million, $8.6 million to Hewlett-Packard, and $3.1 million to Toshiba. Ironicly, Micro Warehouse also owed IBM $2 million - a company Mr. York knew well as its former Chief Financial Officer from May 1993 to September 1995 and as a board member from January 1995 to August 1995.

Mr. York is a board member of Tyco International Ltd.. Tyco is known for one of Americais largest fraud and corporate looting scandals, in which investors lost over $60 billion.