Angela Ahrendts Gets $68 Million ‘Golden Hello’ From Apple

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Apple looks like it’s taking a roughly $68 million stock-option gamble on Angela Ahrendts, betting its new retail chief will do for the iPhone maker what she did for an aging British icon.

Why such a high price for Ahrendts? The former Burberry UK:BRBY -0.27% chief executive officer ran the show at the globally recognized British brand from 2007 until her departure for Apple. During her tenure, sales doubled and the stock price tripled as she moved the brand upscale. The Indiana native and Ball State University alumna has received accolades for her business acumen and her success with such labels as Liz Claiborne and Donna Karan. She ranked 53rd on Forbes’s 2013 list of the most powerful women in the world.

MarketWatch, Apple

A regulatory filing late Monday revealed Ahrendts has received 113,334 restricted stock units, in what’s being viewed as a signing bonus for the 53-year-old (she’s a handful of months older than Apple CEO Tim Cook, for those reading the succession tea leaves), who officially rolled up her sleeves last week.  At today’s prices, and with Apple’s AAPL -0.14% stock closing at $600.96 on Monday, that chunk of stock could be worth up to $68 million.

As for restrictions, the first tranche of shares will vest on June 1, 2014, and the rest are spread out over three additional tranches vesting by June 14, 2018. To get the full payout, then, Ahrendts will need to stick around beyond mid-2018. If it looks like Apple is splashing out here, blogger 9to5mac.com notes that predecessor John Bowett, who was pushed out last October, got 100,000 shares when he joined, equal to a $61 million payout at the time. He made it through the first vesting of 5,000 shares, worth $3 million.

Ahrendts may be shaking things up quickly. 9to5mac.com separately claims that Apple is planning to hold an “enormous” iPhone-related event in its stores this week, to give sales a boost. Citing unnamed sources, the blogger said it will feature upgrades of iPhone models.

Apple’s high hopes for its new retail chief are based on the magic Ahrendts wove at Burberry. As the New Yorker put it recently, one of her tasks is to make wearable technology chic — “more Burberry, less Borg.” But the golden-hello path doesn’t always work out perfectly, with Apple bumbling in this retail slot in the past. The company is also under some pressure from investors who want to see new ideas and reasons to keep pushing the stock higher.