Apple Retail SVP Gets a $44 Million Pay Day

Ron Johnson, the man Steve Jobs hired from Target (TGT) to create the Apple Store -- and who famously persuaded his boss, over Jobs' initial objections, to include a Genius Bar -- has joined the string of top Apple (AAPL) executives taking advantage of the stock's recent run-up to cash in some options.

According to an SEC Form 4 filed Saturday, Johnson sold 150,000 shares with a strike price of $11.06 on Thursday for an average price of $306.07, clearing $44,151,000 profit on the trade.

It's the third big windfall for Johnson in the space of three years. On Oct. 31, 2007 -- Halloween -- he sold 700,000 shares with a strike price of $23.72 for just over $185 each, making $112 million on that deal. Then last March he sold another 200,000 shares, clearing nearly $46 million.

Johnson still has 232,875 "beneficially owned" shares he has yet to sell.