Benefit Plans

Stock Plans

The Company had 280.4 million shares reserved for future issuance under its stock plans as of June 30, 2018. Restricted stock units (“RSUs”) granted generally vest over four years, based on continued employment, and are settled upon vesting in shares of the Company’s common stock on a one-for-one basis. Each share issued with respect to RSUs granted under the Company’s stock plans reduces the number of shares available for grant under the plans by two shares. RSUs canceled and shares withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations increase the number of shares available for grant under the plans utilizing a factor of two times the number of RSUs canceled or shares withheld.

Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans

During the three months ended June 30, 2018, Section 16 officers Angela Ahrendts, Timothy D. Cook, Chris Kondo, Luca Maestri, Daniel Riccio, Philip Schiller and Jeffrey Williams had equity trading plans in place in accordance with Rule 10b5-1(c)(1) under the Exchange Act. An equity trading plan is a written document that pre-establishes the amounts, prices and dates (or formula for determining the amounts, prices and dates) of future purchases or sales of the Company’s stock, including shares acquired pursuant to the Company’s employee and director equity plans.

Restricted Stock Units

A summary of the Company’s RSU activity and related information for the nine months ended June 30, 2018 is as follows:



	Number of RSUs (in thousands)		Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value Per RSU		Aggregate Fair Value (in millions)
Balance as of September 30, 2017	97,571		$	110.33
RSUs granted	43,340		$	160.79
RSUs vested	(41,292	)	$	111.62
RSUs canceled	(4,884	)	$	126.32
Balance as of June 30, 2018	94,735		$	132.03	$	17,536

The fair value as of the respective vesting dates of RSUs was $3.3 billion and $6.9 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended June 30, 2018, respectively, and was $2.8 billion and $5.4 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended July 1, 2017, respectively.

Share-Based Compensation

The following table shows a summary of the share-based compensation expense included in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three- and nine-month periods ended June 30, 2018 and July 1, 2017 (in millions):



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	June 30, 2018		July 1, 2017		June 30, 2018		July 1, 2017
Cost of sales	$	250	$	216	$	759	$	662
Research and development	675		566		1,987		1,730
Selling, general and administrative	426		411		1,249		1,274
Total share-based compensation expense	$	1,351	$	1,193	$	3,995	$	3,666

The income tax benefit related to share-based compensation expense was $528 million and $1.5 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended June 30, 2018, respectively, and was $380 million and $1.3 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended July 1, 2017, respectively. As of June 30, 2018, the total unrecognized compensation cost related to outstanding RSUs and stock options was $10.4 billion, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average period of 2.6 years.