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.