Time’s Ripe for Apple Execs to Enjoy the Fruits of Their Labor

With Apple’s shares trading near all-time highs, a few of the company’s top lieutenants are cashing in some of their equity for big paydays. Earlier this month, Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of Macintosh Hardware Engineering, exercised 40,000 stock options with a strike price of $36.54, selling them at $308 apiece to clear $10.8 million.

Now Ron Johnson, Apple’s SVP of Retail Operation has followed Mansfield’s lead. According to an SEC filing made public over the weekend, Johnson–the guy responsible for putting the Genius Bars in Apple retail stores, exercised 150,000 options at a strike price of $11.73, selling them at an average price of $306.07 per share to pocket $44.1 million.

Rich rewards and well-deserved. Remember, Mac sales accounted for $22 billion in revenue in Apple’s fiscal 2010. That’s 33 percent of the company’s revenue–enough to make its Mac business No. 110 on the Fortune 500 if it were a standalone operation. Mansfield and Johnson did much to make that possible.