Erlinger Joseph M. 4

What Happened

• Joseph M. Erlinger, President of McDonald's USA, exercised 5,252 stock options (code M) at an exercise price of $157.79 per share (total exercise cost $828,713) and then sold those 5,252 shares in an open-market sale (code S) at $284.32 per share for total proceeds of $1,493,249 on June 10, 2026.
• The filing also shows the derivative instrument was converted/disposed (M) at $0, which reflects the exercise/conversion event tied to the option grant. The transaction resulted in gross proceeds about $1.49M and an approximate pre-tax spread (proceeds minus exercise cost) of $664,536.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-06-10.
• Exercise: 5,252 shares @ $157.79 = $828,713 (cash paid to exercise).
• Sale: 5,252 shares @ $284.32 = $1,493,249 (open-market disposal).
• Derivative entry at $0 reflects conversion/exercise of the option instrument.
• Shares owned after transaction: not disclosed in this filing.
• Footnote: Options were granted Feb 19, 2018 and vested in 25% increments on each anniversary (per footnote F1).
• Filing timeliness: Report period and filing date are the same (no late filing indicated).

Context

• This was an option exercise immediately followed by a sale (a cashless/quick sale of exercised shares), which is common for realizing option gains and does not by itself indicate a change in insider sentiment about the company.
• The transaction is routine insider liquidity rather than a straight purchase; retail investors should treat it as the insider converting vested compensation into cash rather than a fresh buy signal.