A new fire has been lit under Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock this week, just days after a number of insiders unloaded some of their shares last week at lower prices. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Technology Officer Michael Todd Schroepfer, Chief Financial Officer David Wehner, and outgoing Chief Accounting Officer Jas Athwal are among those who moved shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock around last week.
Of course insider movement in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock comes as no surprise, as ’tis the season for stock units to vest and for insiders to unload shares to prepare for tax season in a few months.
Mark Zuckerberg sells $95m in Facebook stock
Zuckerberg unloaded about $95 million worth of shares last week after converting some of his Class B shares into Class A shares, according to regulatory filings. The sales were part of his ongoing effort to donate 99% of his wealth to charity, although the filing also states that $1 billion worth of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock is the maximum he will sell or donate within a year through 2018. Zuckerberg also sold $190 million worth of shares in October, plus an additional $190 million the month before that.
Forbes pegs his net worth at around $52 billion following the sale of those shares. His net worth has been rising steadily over the last year even though he’s been steadily selling his shares because Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock has been soaring higher and higher. It has been on a downtrend since the company’s last earnings report and since the elections earlier this month, but it seems that investors are having a change of heart this week.
Other insiders unload Facebook stock
A regulatory filing indicate that Schroepfer also exercised some restricted units of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock. He then turned around and sold some shares, while keeping some also. The filing indicates that he sold some of his shares to cover tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of the RSUs. He raked in about $8.1 million from selling approximately 69,000 shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock.
Athwal also exercised some restricted stock units and sold some shares to cover the tax withholding obligations associated with those RSUs, unloading about 4,900 shares last week. Wehner exercised some RSUs and then sold about 23,000 shares to cover tax withholding obligations.
Other executives who moved some shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) around last week were director Susan Desmond-Hellmann, VP David Fischer, General Counsel Colin Stretch and Chief Product Officer Christopher Cox. The general theme with this batch of share sales seems to be covering tax obligations and exercising RSUs.
After rising on Monday, shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock slipped by as much as 0.1% to $121.65 during regular trading hours on Tuesday.
