Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, sold $42.5 million worth of his company’s stock this week.
The transactions were executed on June 21 and 22 and were largely related to charitable efforts by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
The Chan Zuckerberg Foundation sold $20 million of Facebook stock that was previously owned by Zuckerberg. CZI Holdings, a related for-profit entity, sold $12.5 million in a similar transaction. Zuckerberg’s shares, which have 10-times voting power, were converted to normal shares before the sale, protecting his control of the company.
In addition, two trusts controlled by Zuckerberg each sold 32,589 shares for a total of $10 million.
The foundation and CZI still own over 400 million shares of Facebook, with 10-times voting power, which would be worth $62.7 billion if they were converted to normal shares.
Stock sales by key executives are often scrutinized for what they say about the insider’s level of confidence in the company. But as evidenced here, they’re commonly just part of the ho hum operations of a rich person’s finances. Zuckerberg and Chan have pledged to give away nearly all their wealth to charitable causes. One of their first initiatives is focused on curing disease.