WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum has been cashing out his Facebook stock at a rapid pace.
Koum, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $19 billion back in early 2014, sold and gifted almost 43 million shares of Facebook stock in the past calendar year, according to a review of his Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Those shares, based on Facebook's stock value on the dates of the sales, would be worth more than $5 billion.
Most of these shares were sold. Filings show that
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He also gifted 12.6 million shares, according to filings, though the filings did not specify where the gifts were headed. All of the sales were done using a 10b5-1 trading plan, which executives use to sell shares while avoiding concerns over inside trading.
It's not uncommon for executives to sell their stock — company stock awards and options usually represent the vast majority of executive compensation.
It is uncommon for executives to sell as frequently as
We reached out to WhatsApp to ask for comment. Maybe
Either way,
—By Kurt Wagner, Re/code.net.
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