Apple awards executive Tim Cook 75,000 stock options for navigating without Jobs

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Apple Inc. awarded its Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook a bonus of $5 million in cash and 75,000 stock options Friday for leading the company when its celebrity chief executive, Steve Jobs, was on medical leave.

At today’s prices, the stock would be worth just shy of $17 million. Half of the shares will vest in March 2011, and the rest a year after that, according to regulatory filings.

Apple’s stock has been steadily rising for more than a year, more than doubling from its January 2009 price of $90 to its current value of $226 per share. Cook oversaw the company during much of that time, when Jobs was on medical leave after a liver transplant in mid-2009.

Despite concerns that the company would be on shaky ground without Jobs, Apple performed strongly in his absence, enjoying surging sales in several categories, including its popular iPhone.

— David Sarno