user: Q: Smart trades: Apple execs clear $16.5m

Three senior officers sold a total of 61,632 shares near Apple’s all-time high

Apple AAPL set a new record last Friday, closing at $270.83 a share. Two trading days later, it closed at $262.04, down $7.46 in one day, and it fell another $6.59 to $256.41 in mid-morning trading Wednesday.

Among the people lucky — or prescient — enough to sell before the stock dropped were three senior Apple officers: Scott Forstall, senior VP for iPhone software; Mark Papermaster, senior VP devices; and Betsy Rafael, VP, controller and chief accounting officer.

According to SEC Form 4s filed Tuesday, the trio sold a total of 61,632 preferentially owned shares between Friday and Monday at prices ranging from $267.01 to $271.43 a share. Total proceeds: $16.5 million.

Papermaster, the veteran IBM IBM executive who replaced Tony Fadell as head of the iPod/iPhone division (see here), sold his shares as part of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

But Forstall and Rafael’s could have unloaded their Apple stock whenever they wanted, and they chose well. Forstall was the big winner, clearing more than $12 million. Rafael’s timing was particularly good. She sold 2,136 shares at $270.8775 on Friday, raking in nearly $580,000 in one trade.

Below the fold: The trades.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

A: Three senior officers sold a total of 61,632 shares near Apple's all-time high Apple set a new record last Friday, closing at $270.83 a share. Two trading days later, it closed at $262.04, down $7.46 in one day, and it fell another $6.59 to $256.41 in mid-morning trading Wednesday. Among the people lucky -- or…


IN: Affinity Engines Sues Google Over Orkut Networking Site
SAN FRANCISCO -- Affinity Engines Inc. filed suit accusing Google Inc. of misappropriating trade secrets and unfair competition over Google's Orkut social networking site.

Affinity Engines said in its complaint, filed May 25 in California Superior Court in Santa Clara, that Google software engineer Orkut Buyukkokten copied and used software code from its inCircle product in creating the Orkut social networking site for Google. Mr. Buyukkokten co-founded Affinity Engines, whose software is used by universities to link...
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OUT: Affinity Engines filed suit accusing Google of stealing its software code for use in Google's Orkut social-networking service.


Q:
LA-bound Steven Gerrard would have signed new Liverpool deal last summer
Steven Gerrard has admitted he would have signed a contract extension at Liverpool had it been offered to him last summer and is expected to agree an 18-month deal with LA Galaxy in the next 48 hours.

Liverpool did not open talks with Gerrard over a new deal until November and by then the captain had established in discussions with the manager, Brendan Rodgers, that he would no longer be an automatic selection if he stayed beyond this season. Unwilling to become a squad player, the 34-year-old announced last week that he would leave when his deal expires in the summer.

Confirmation that Los Angeles is to be his next destination appears to be imminent. He is expected to be given a basic salary of £4m per year by the Major League Soccer club – about £76,000 per week, with image rights inflating that figure. That equates to around half of what he is earning at Anfield.

“If a contract had been put in front of me in pre-season I would have signed it,” Gerrard told the Liverpool Echo. “I’d just retired from England to concentrate all my efforts on Liverpool. I didn’t want my club games to be tailored. My injury record had been fantastic for the past two and a half years and I had a great season from a personal point of view last season. It’s all ifs, buts and hindsight now. That period between the summer and the end of November gave me thinking time.

“There’s no blame and I’m not angry about it. There are other people in the squad and the club had other things to worry about. Liverpool Football Club have been unbelievable for me since I was eight years old. This club has helped me fulfil my dreams over and over again.”

Although Gerrard insists his decision to part company with Liverpool has been “very amicable”, the admission that he would have signed an extension had one been on the table in the summer raises fresh questions over Fenway Sports Group’s handling of the situation.

Rodgers stated in pre-season that a new deal for Liverpool’s captain of the past 11 years was “a formality”, only to concede later in the campaign, when no offer was forthcoming, that Gerrard had a “life decision” to make. The Liverpool manager categorically denied that money was a factor in Gerrard’s reluctance to commit and his anticipated basic salary at LA Galaxy supports that view. The midfielder confirmed that the prospect of having his game time cut, outlined to him by Rodgers in November, was a key factor in his decision not to renew.

“I’ve got to be honest,” Gerrard said. “That chat with Brendan came earlier than I was expecting. It was tough but I understood.” He added: “When it gets to the stage where you don’t know if you’re going to be starting or not it becomes different. I’ve never wanted to be a squad player. If I was missing games now, I’d be sitting out even more next season. I knew it would get worse and worse as time went on.”

Rodgers’ decision to omit Gerrard from Liverpool’s starting lineup at Real Madrid in the Champions League would have been a serious setback to the man who lifted the club’s fifth European Cup in 2005. The former England captain has also come in for severe criticism during Liverpool’s difficult campaign yet has showed his enduring importance to the club several times this season, including in the FA Cup win at AFC Wimbledon on Monday.

“It’s got nothing to do with how results have been,” Gerrard said of his decision to leave. “That’s not the type I am. If things aren’t going so well, I’d rather stay and help to put things right. I think I’ve shown that over the years.

“It simply came down to the fact that the idea of becoming a squad player didn’t excite me or motivate me.”
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A:


assistant: Steven Gerrard would have signed a contract extension at Liverpool had it been offered last summer and is expected to sign an 18-month deal with LA Galaxy in the next 48 hours