Facebook insider Moskovitz still unloading IPO stock daily
updated 10:22 pm EDT, Thu August 30, 2012
Nine business days, 1.3 million shares sold
As previously reported, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz disclosed on August 24 that he had sold 900,000 shares of Facebook stock over the six business days following the "lockup" of the stock awarded to him during the IPO. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) he has been continuing this trend, and has shed another 450,000 at a rate of 150,000 per day from Monday through Wednesday.
Including the sales through Wednesday, he still owns more than 130 million shares of the company. The Wednesday disclosure, mandated by SEC regulations, showed he sold the most recent batch at prices between $19.00 and $19.49 per share.
Companies generally impose "lockup" status on insider shares for three months to a year after an IPO to regulate the release of shares on the free market to prevent exactly what's been happening to the share price. Market capitalization has dropped to $42.6 billion since the IPO. The lockup expires on a group of 1.22 billion IPO and founder shares on November 14.
Facebook stock hit a record low on August 17, sinking to just over half the IPO price, as insiders and the first investors in the company became eligible to unload the shares locked up by federal trading restrictions since the commencement of sales. Experts said in response to the drop that the value of the stock and company could plummet further if early purchasers and employees saturate the market with their shares of stock as more lockups expire before the end of the year.
