Angela Ahrendts will be Apple’s most powerful retail boss ever. Photograph: Daniel Deme/EPA  Apple has welcomed its powerful new retail boss, Angela Ahrendts, with a share award worth $68m (£40m).  The US-born executive, who joined Apple last week from her previous role as head of the British fashion label Burberry, has been granted a maximum of 113,334 restricted stock options which will transfer to her in a series of payments over the next four years.  Apple's share price has hit a new high, surpassing $600 for the first time since October 2012, making Ahrendts' settlement worth $68m at today's prices.  Ahrendts will be Apple's most powerful retail boss ever, with control not only of its 423 stores but also the company's online shopfront. She is the second Apple retail boss to be recruited from a British business. Her predecessor, John Browett, formerly chief executive of Dixons and now boss of high street chain Monsoon Accessorize, lasted just six months in the post but would have been entitled to shares worth $55m had he stayed a full term.  After a false start with Browett, Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, is hoping for second time lucky with Ahrendts, whom he described as "wicked smart" in a letter to staff.  Ahrendts took Burberry into emerging markets, with a growing business in China, and also dragged a conservative fashion label into the digital age with a flair for new media marketing. Last year, Burberry was given early access to the then unreleased iPhone 5S to film a catwalk show.  The first instalment of her Apple shares will vest on 1 June and is worth nearly $9.8m. The bulk of her shares – around 96,000 stock options – will be granted simply for remaining in post. A further 17,300 are performance-based, and the number she actually receives will depend on Apple's share price measured against similar companies between now and 2017.  She left Burberry last week, handing the reins to its creative boss Christopher Bailey, after being granted early access to share bonuses worth £6.2m and a cash bonus worth £2.1m, which together with her basic salary took her pay for her final year at the fashion group to over £9m.  Apple's minimalist white cube shops have more in common with art galleries than with the overflowing electronics outlets still found on most high streets. They earn more per square foot than any other retail chain in the world, but have in effect been leaderless since 2011, when Browett's predecessor, Ron Johnson, left for US group JC Penney after building up Apple's retail presence during his 11-year tenure.  Despite the absence of a retail boss, Apple stores still earned a record $7bn (£5bn) in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 9% on the same period last year. They attracted 114 million visitors during the most recent quarter, about 21,000 visitors per store per week.  The estate is also disproportionately skewed towards the US, with the home market accounting for half of all stores but only a third of revenues. Cook recently promised to triple the number of retail stores in China over the next two years.
Majority of shares will be granted to former Burberry boss simply for remaining in her post – the remainder are performance based