Benefit Plans

Stock Plans

The Company had 386.3 million shares reserved for future issuance under its stock plans as of June 25, 2016. 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 plan by two shares. RSUs cancelled 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 cancelled or shares withheld. Stock options count against the number of shares available for grant on a one-for-one basis.

Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans

During the three months ended June 25, 2016, Section 16 officers Timothy D. Cook, Angela Ahrendts, 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 25, 2016 is as follows:



	Number of RSUs (in thousands)		Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value Per Share		Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in millions)
Balance at September 26, 2015	101,467		$	85.77
RSUs granted	47,100		$	109.67
RSUs vested	(41,326	)	$	84.86
RSUs cancelled	(4,250	)	$	95.44
Balance at June 25, 2016	102,991		$	96.57	$	9,619

RSUs that vested during the three- and nine-month periods ended June 25, 2016 had fair values of $2.0 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively, as of the vesting date. RSUs that vested during the three- and nine-month periods ended June 27, 2015 had fair values of $2.3 billion and $4.3 billion, respectively, as of the vesting date.

Stock Options

The Company had 1.1 million stock options outstanding as of June 25, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price per share of $15.69 and weighted-average remaining contractual term of 3.4 years, substantially all of which are exercisable. The aggregate intrinsic value of the stock options outstanding as of June 25, 2016 was $84 million, which represents the value of the Company’s closing stock price on the last trading day of the period in excess of the weighted-average exercise price multiplied by the number of options outstanding.

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 25, 2016 and June 27, 2015 (in millions):



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	June 25, 2016		June 27, 2015		June 25, 2016		June 27, 2015
Cost of sales	$	188	$	148	$	583	$	430
Research and development	479		388		1,413		1,146
Selling, general and administrative	387		320		1,184		1,095
Total share-based compensation expense	$	1,054	$	856	$	3,180	$	2,671

The income tax benefit related to share-based compensation expense was $321 million and $1.1 billion for the three- and nine-month periods ended June 25, 2016, respectively, and was $286 million and $948 million for the three- and nine-month periods ended June 27, 2015, respectively. As of June 25, 2016, the total unrecognized compensation cost related to outstanding stock options, RSUs and restricted stock was $8.3 billion, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted-average period of 2.7 years.