Erlinger Joseph M. 4

What Happened Joseph M. Erlinger, President of McDonald's USA, exercised 2,626 stock options (from a 2018 grant) and immediately sold the 2,626 underlying shares on 2026-03-10. He paid $157.79 per share to exercise (total exercise cost $414,357) and sold the shares at $328.34 each for gross proceeds of $862,221 — roughly $447,864 difference before taxes and fees. The Form 4 was filed on 2026-03-11 (timely).

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-03-10; Form 4 filed: 2026-03-11 (timely).
• Exercise (M): 2,626 options exercised at $157.79 = $414,357.
• Sale (S): 2,626 shares sold at $328.34 = $862,221.
• Derivative disposition reported at $0.00 corresponds to the option conversion into shares.
• Shares owned after the transactions: not specified in the provided filing extract.
• Footnote: Options were granted 2018-02-19 and vested in 25% increments over the four anniversaries of the grant.

Context This was a cashless exercise: Erlinger exercised vested options and immediately sold the resulting shares to realize the gain (common for option exercises to cover costs and taxes). The sale itself is routine insider selling and, by itself, does not indicate company-wide insider sentiment.