Three Facebook executives sell stock as trading restrictions are lifted

Shawn Knight

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A number of Facebook employees are now able to sell shares they were awarded when the company went public earlier this year. Three executives, including the social network’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, took advantage of the lifted restrictions and cashed in millions of dollars worth of stock.

Sandberg sold approximately 353,000 stock units according to a recent SEC filing, good for a $7.44 million payday. That may sound like a lot of money and stock but the COO didn’t even come close to putting a dent in her overall Facebook portfolio.

The executive sold less than two percent of the total amount of Facebook stock she owns (1.91 percent if you want to get precise). Of course not all of the top executives were awarded as much stock as Sandberg which meant they had to sell off a much larger percentage of what they own to get similar money.

Facebook General Counsel Ted Ullyot reportedly parted ways with 149,075 shares of the 1.4 million he was awarded for a total payout of $3 million.

Chief Account Officer David Spillane also elected to cash in some of his Facebook stock. He sold an alarming 61.53 percent (256,000 shares) of what he was awarded at $21.04 each for a total haul of $5,386,240. Spillane still has some shares that haven’t vested yet. Once that occurs, the sale will have accounted for only 26.3 percent of his total stake. It’s still a hefty percentage no matter how you slice it.

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This is a lot less exciting than I thought it would be. Kinda hoped that 3 executives sold all of their shares to just get out rather than some of them were looking for a quick payday
 
Headline should read "Three Facebook Executives Take Profits as Trading Restrictions Lifted." The current headline had me thinking that they had offloaded a significant quantity of their holdings.
 
Mostly disappointed at the amounts, not very surprised at the selloffs. I do fully expect the head rats, er, honchos to gradually dump all or nearly all of their shares over time as this gigantic turkey of a stock continues to underperform. Long term 'pump and dump' scheme in action.
 
This is no different than any large IPO. The title made it sound like they were jumping ship. With how little they sold it may even be less. When you said that the Accountant Officer sold a lot, that could be worrying, but it's still only a quarter of what he'll have.
 
Mostly disappointed at the amounts, not very surprised at the selloffs. I do fully expect the head rats, er, honchos to gradually dump all or nearly all of their shares over time as this gigantic turkey of a stock continues to underperform. Long term 'pump and dump' scheme in action.

Or maybe they just have an ounce of common sense and know that they shouldn't keep all their eggs in one basket now that they're not forced to.
 
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