John Ternus took over as CEO of Apple in September 2026, becoming the iPhone maker’s second chief executive since the death of founder Steve Jobs in 2011. Ternus has worked at Apple for more than two decades, and as CEO, he’s likely to be awarded significant amounts of shares based on performance.
Here’s a closer look at how many Apple shares Ternus owns now, early in his tenure as chief executive.
How much of Apple does John Ternus own?
John Ternus owned 59,567 shares in Apple, according to an SEC filing on October 5, 2026. His stake represents just a tiny fraction of the company’s 14.59 billion shares outstanding.
Ternus’s shares were valued at over $20.2 million based on a mid-October 2026 share price of $339.50.
Related: John Ternus’s net worth as Apple’s new CEO
Is John Ternus the largest individual shareholder of Apple?
Compared to other members of Apple’s board, Ternus is a relatively minor insider shareholder, at least for now.
Arthur D. Levinson owned 3.7 million shares, according to an SEC filing in May 2026; he has been accumulating Apple shares since joining the board of directors in 2000.
Tim Cook, whom Ternus replaced as CEO, and who now serves as executive chair of Apple’s board, owned 3.2 million shares, according to an October 2026 SEC filing. His shares were primarily derived from stock awards in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs) for meeting the company’s internal performance-based goals during his tenure as CEO.
Levinson and Cook disclosed their Apple shareholdings as board members under disclosure rules. It is possible (but relatively unlikely) that there are other individuals who own more shares than Cook or Levinson but aren’t required to disclose their ownership because their stake doesn’t represent 5% or more of the company. (A 5% stake in Apple would be equivalent to nearly 730 million shares.)
Institutional investors own the biggest individual stakes in Apple.
Apple’s largest institutional shareholders
Institutional ownership in Apple amounted to 76.6% of total shares, according to Nasdaq. The Vanguard Group was the largest institutional investor, with a 9.8% stake. BlackRock (8%) and Vanguard Capital Management (6.6%) rounded out the top three.
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How & when did John Ternus accumulate his Apple stock?
Ternus first joined Apple on the company’s product design team in 2001, and he eventually worked his way up to senior vice president overseeing hardware engineering, reporting to his predecessor, Cook, before becoming CEO himself. As he was promoted over two decades, he was awarded shares and likely sold some shares along the way.
According to his latest SEC filing, he sold over 74,000 shares in early October 2026.
If his predecessor’s stock awards are any guide, Ternus could potentially be awarded a significant number of shares in the coming years, assuming he remains CEO. When Cook became CEO, he only held 13,659 shares in Apple, according to the tech giant’s 2011 proxy statement. After stepping down as CEO, Cook held 3.2 million shares.
Related: Tim Cook’s net worth: The retired Apple CEO’s wealth in 2026
How much stock does John Ternus get as part of his compensation package?
Ternus owns restricted stock units (RSUs), awarded to him as part of his performance. He had 99,878 shares that vested on October 1, and over the next two days he sold almost 74,446 shares, fetching nearly $25 million. He has around 250,000 RSUs that will vest in 2027 and into the next few years, based on an SEC filing that disclosed Ternus’s ownership in Apple stock when he became CEO on September 1, 2026.
As CEO, Ternus’ performance-based stock awards will likely increase in coming years if the company meets or exceeds its internal targets.
Related: Apple’s stock performance under Tim Cook: A retrospective