The revelations came from a mandatory disclosure filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission which shows that the first part of the award to the former general counsel at Honeywell consists of 57,482 RSUs that vest in quarterly instalments on the 13th of May 2018, November 2018, November 2019 and November 2020 - as long as she remains employed by Apple at the time. 

Second part of award

The second part of the award consists of up to 57,482 RSUs, a percentage of which will vest on October 1, 2020 based on Apple's relative total shareholder return between November 13, 2017 and September 26, 2020. 

Performance-linked

Taking Apple's performance compared to others in the S&P 500 over the next three years, the new legal head could see the second part of her award double - but if if Apple was to underperform she could get nothing. Based on Apple's recent closing price each portion of her RSUs is worth almost $10 million and up to a potential total value of $19.4 million - depending on company performance. 

Retiring GC opens the way

Ms Adams will succeed Bruce Sewell who is retiring as Apple's general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Global Security at the turn of the year.