Tim Cook

The playbook

He runs the most valuable company on the list and says the least, which makes what he does say easier to hold to. His Form 4s arrive on a schedule (the latest on September 10, 2026), his earnings calls are transcribed, and Apple's quarterly filings carry the numbers he describes in the same week.

The pairs to look for are specific: a statement about a product, a region or a supply chain on the call, set against the segment table in the 10-Q that follows. Apple reports by product and by region, so the check is arithmetic rather than interpretation.

His own sales are routine and planned, and the footnotes say so. They are recorded, not read as signals, unless a sale departs from the pattern in the same month as a strong public claim.

What we're watching

• Recorded Sep 30, 2026 He stopped being chief executive on Sep 1, 2026 and is Executive Chair; John Ternus runs Apple now. He still files Form 4s on his own holding, so he stays here, but nothing Apple ships or spends from now on is his to answer for. Corrected Sep 30, 2026, a month late.
• Quarterly Earnings call claims about products and regions, checked against the segment tables in the next 10-Q.
• Ongoing Form 4s as they land, with the plan dates in the footnotes.
• Before first receipt Baseline first: what his routine annual sale looks like.
• Answered Oct 5, 2026, below Baseline, Oct 2, 2026. The day after his October stock award vested he filed a Form 144 to sell 218,078 Apple shares, under a plan adopted on May 27, 2026. Some of the shares are his foundation's and the rest his trust's. John Ternus and Deirdre O'Brien filed the same form the same day under plans of their own, so this is the company's vesting calendar and not a decision made this week. The notice has two slips in it: the market value it gives is about a twentieth of what that many shares were worth, and the remarks split the shares into two numbers that add up to 90 fewer than the total. The Form 4 with the actual prices is due within two business days and is the document to use.
• Recorded Oct 6, 2026 The Form 4 arrived on Oct 5, 2026 and matches the notice to the share. 374,541 shares vested on Oct 1. Apple kept 199,038 of them for tax. On Oct 2 he sold 191,753 at between $331.44 and $333.94, about $63.85 million, and gave away 26,325, and those two numbers add up to the 218,078 in the notice. The form ticks the plan box and gives the plan date as May 28, 2026, a day later than the notice did. That is 127 days between writing the plan and the first sale. He holds 3,237,843 shares after it. John Ternus and Deirdre O'Brien reported the same vesting the same day. This is the baseline: a scheduled award, tax withheld, and a sale under a plan written four months earlier.