John Ternus filed two documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 1, 2026, the day he became Apple’s chief executive: a Form 3, disclosing his starting stock position, and a Form 4, reporting a new restricted stock unit award. Together they are the first official record of what Apple’s new CEO owns and what he was granted on his first day.
A Form 3 is the SEC’s initial ownership statement, required when someone becomes a director or officer of a public company. Ternus’s checks both boxes: director and officer, with his officer title listed as CEO, and the 10 percent owner box left unchecked.
| Key facts | Detail |
|---|---|
| Form 3 filed | September 1, 2026 |
| Direct common shares | 34,155 |
| Restricted stock units listed | 306,231, across seven award tranches |
| Form 4 filed same day | New award of 7,690 restricted stock units |
| Grant price | $0 per unit (equity award, not a purchase) |
Ternus’s opening position, as filed
The Form 3 lists 34,155 shares of Apple common stock held directly, plus 306,231 restricted stock units, also held directly, spread across seven separate outstanding award tranches. Most of those tranches are standard time-based awards with vesting schedules running from 2025 through 2030. Two of the seven are performance-based, tied to Apple’s total shareholder return relative to the S&P 500, and can vest anywhere from 0 to 200 percent of their target number of units depending on how that comparison plays out.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
A new grant filed the same day
The accompanying Form 4 reports a separate transaction: an award, coded as an acquisition rather than a purchase, of 7,690 restricted stock units at a listed price of $0 per unit, since equity awards are granted rather than bought. The filing’s footnote spells out the vesting schedule in full: 12.5 percent of the units vest on March 15, 2027, and the remaining units vest in semiannual installments of 12.5 percent over a four-year period ending September 15, 2030.
Apple’s separate Form 8-K/A, filed the same day, describes a prorated restricted stock unit award for Ternus’s period of service as CEO during fiscal 2026, with a target value of $2.5 million, granted on the Transition Date. That filing does not restate the unit count; the Form 4’s 7,690-unit grant, dated to the same day, is the only place the number of units appears.
| Award type | Vesting, as filed |
|---|---|
| Time-based tranches (most of the seven) | Scheduled vesting dates from 2025 through 2030 |
| Performance-based tranches (two of the seven) | 0 to 200 percent of target, based on relative total shareholder return |
| New September 1, 2026 award, 7,690 units | 12.5 percent March 15, 2027, then 12.5 percent semiannually to September 15, 2030 |
Why a Form 3 was needed at all
Ternus previously ran Hardware Engineering at Apple, the group behind products including this year’s iPhone 18 Pro. SEC rules require a fresh Form 3 when a person becomes a director for the first time, even if they already held shares and units as an officer under a prior title. Ternus joined Apple’s board effective September 1, 2026, which is why the filing exists alongside, rather than instead of, his ongoing Form 4 disclosures as an executive.
What Apple has not said
- The grant dates or original target sizes of the six other RSU tranches listed on the Form 3, beyond the one dated September 1, 2026.
- Whether the 7,690-unit Form 4 award and the $2.5 million prorated award described in the 8-K/A are formally the same grant; both are dated September 1, 2026, but neither filing cross-references the other by name.
- Any options, warrants, or derivative securities; none appear on either filing.
Today is Sunday, September 13, 2026. Ternus’s next required disclosure will be a Form 4 for any future award, sale, or vesting event, due within two business days of the transaction under SEC rules.
