Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., made headlines by offloading nearly half a billion dollars worth of Meta shares in the final two months of 2023.
This move marked Zuckerberg’s return to selling company shares after a hiatus of two years, during which Meta’s stock experienced its lowest point in seven years.
According to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Zuckerberg executed daily share sales between November 1 and the close of the year, divesting a total of approximately 1.28 million shares for a staggering $428 million.
Each sale, on average, raked in $10.4 million, with the most substantial transaction occurring on December 28, netting $17.1 million.
This financial decision was particularly noteworthy as Zuckerberg had refrained from selling Meta shares since November 2021.
The company’s stock staged an impressive comeback in 2023, witnessing a remarkable 194% rebound from its seven-year low at the end of 2022.
Meta’s shares outperformed those of nearly every major tech giant, trailing only behind Nvidia Corp., and currently hover near their record high from September 2021.
Zuckerberg, who holds approximately 13% of Meta, boasts a net worth of around $125 billion, securing his position as the seventh-richest person globally, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
While Meta has not provided an official statement on Zuckerberg’s significant share dump, industry analysts speculate on the strategic implications of this move.
The unexpected sell-off by the Meta chief aligns with similar actions by his tech counterpart, Marc Benioff of Salesforce Inc., who also engaged in a consistent sell-off, offloading over $475 million in shares during the latter half of 2023.
The tech world is now abuzz with discussions on the motives behind these high-profile share sales and their potential impact on the companies involved.