Investor Thiel Unloads Most of His Facebook Shares
Billionaire investor Peter Thiel has unloaded the majority of his remaining Facebook shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thiel, a Facebook director, sold roughly 20 million Facebook shares and will retain 5.6 million. Thiel sold the shares in multiple transactions on Thursday and Friday at prices ranging from $19.69 to $20.68 per shares, the filing said.
At an average price of $19.73, the value of the sales was about $395.8 million.
This share sale was planned prior to the IPO date, according to the filing, which means it wasn't in response to the stock's drop.
Last Thursday was the first time many insiders could begin selling their shares. Thiel sold over 16 million shares at Facebook’s IPO, and before the most recent selling, he converted some 9 million shares to Class A shares from Class B shares, SEC filings revealed. That gave him more flexibility to sell shares when the lock-up expired. (Related: These Investors Sold Stock in Facebook IPO).
Debuting with a nearly $100 billion market cap, Facebook shares have seen heavy selling pressure since it went public in May. As of Monday's close, Facebook's market cap stood at $43 billion. (Related: Accel Unloads Facebook on Its Own Investors: Sources).
