Tuesday, November 02, 2004, 10:00 am

Apple VP exercises stock options for $9.6M profit

By AppleInsider Staff

With Apple's Retail strategy well on its feet and raking in cash, the company's retail chief cashes in on stock options.

Two days after Apple Computer announced its iPod Photo and U2 iPod, company Senior Vice President Ron Johnson reaped a US$9.6 million dollar profit on stock options last Thursday, as Apple's stock flirted with a new yearly high, writes The Mac Observer.

Johnson reportedly purchased the 300,000 shares of Apple stock on Oct. 28 for $18.59 and immediately dumped them at a market value of $50.5875 a share, taking home a pre-tax profit of $9,626,250.00, according to a a filing made Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Prior to heading up Apple's retail strategy, Johnson held various management positions at the Target Corporation, including Vice President of Merchandising for Target Stores.

During Apple's last fiscal year, the company's retail stores hosted 24 million visitors and generated $1.2 billion in revenues, continuing one of the greatest success stories in retail history.

Speaking at the annual conference of The Center for Design and Business in Providence, RI this April, Johnson announced that Apple's stores were the fastest retail chain to ever to reach the $1 billion sales figure (3 years), besting previous record-holder The Gap, which took 4 years to hit the same figure.