Apple’s iOS head sold 95% (worth $38.7M) of his stock on Friday

Apple’s senior vice president for iOS Scott Forstall took advantage of Apple’s high stock price last Friday and sold 64,151 shares worth around $38.7 million.

The stock sale (PDF) relieved Forstall of around 95 percent of his Apple holdings, Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt reports, and leaves him with 2,988 shares worth $1.8 million as of Friday.

While it may look like Forstall is planning his escape from Apple, the sale seems more to be a well-time moved to make the most of his Apple stock. And his Apple stock portfolio won’t be empty for too long, as Forstall has over 350,000 restricted stock units that will vest over the next four years (as long as he sticks with Apple).

Elmer-Dewitt points out that the stock Forstall sold on Friday came from a 120,000-share retention bonus issued back in 2008, but which only vested last month. All of this is on top of Forstall’s $700,000 annual salary. Given that he’s responsible for Apple’s iOS business — which counted for $29 billion of the company’s $39 billion revenues last quarter — I’d imagine that Apple will do whatever it takes to keep him around.