5 ms·

SVB CEO Greg Becker cashed out $2M just before the collapse

47 points by marymkearney 4y ago

sp332 4y ago
The sales were part of a prearranged executive stock sale plan, known as a 10b5-1 program, that Becker filed with the SEC... Jan. 26
- swyx 4y ago
  seriously, this is the cheapest clickbait and fortunately nobody important is making a big story out of this.
  - mackman 4y ago
    You really don’t think he knew this was coming six weeks ago?
    - delfinom 4y ago
      He has been regularly selling stock for years Here are the SEC records which are public records: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityName=BECKER%2520GREGORY%2520W%2520(CIK%25200001259867) https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityNam...
    - AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
      I'm sure he knew things were in trouble (seems like they knew there was trouble for probably the past year or so) but I'm equally sure he thought the situation was salvageable probably up until the moment the FDIC walked in the door and maybe even now he thinks it could have been saved if they hadn't intervened.
    - sp332 4y ago
      Everyone else could see his plan to sell for the last six weeks.
- __derek__ 4y ago
  It was "prearranged" by one month. This honestly just demonstrates how easy it is to game 10B5-1 plans. I submitted this guy's newsletter separately, but it appears that SVB also lacked a Chief Risk Officer for most of 2022 and failed to explicitly disclose that until March 8 (i.e. two days ago).[1] It all looks pretty shady. [1]: https://nongaap.substack.com/p/sivb-held-to-mortem-governance https://nongaap.substack.com/p/sivb-held-to-mortem-governanc... (submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35098617 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35098617)
  - marymkearney 4y ago
    Yes, this, thanks. The missing Chief Risk Officer is an issue. It's not necessarily nefarious, but the optics aren't great either. Edited to not repeat what you said. :)
foobarian 4y ago
It’s like saying so-and-so ate bread 48 hours before they got a heart attack.
- uoaei 4y ago
  No, it's like saying that it's ok that if you're rich enough you deserve to be first in line for heart transplants in the eventuality that you have a heart attack.
  - foobarian 4y ago
    How does that follow? The guy probably cashes out that amount every quarter. So when there is an event like this of course you will find he cashed out what to us little people is a huge amount of money. If it's a one-off then yea it's suspicious.
mikekij 4y ago
It appears as though he sold exactly the number of shares required to cover the cost of exercising options that were about to expire with his after-tax proceeds. This does not seem to me to be a nefarious transaction.
- rqtwteye 4y ago
  Probably not nefarious. It's still annoying that the big guys can make millions while running a company into the ground.
  - mikekij 4y ago
    To be clear, he likely has millions of shares of stock in SVB that are now worth exactly $0. He could end up being personally liable for SVB employee’s pay. In general, I too hate when the “rich people” win despite screwing up. This doesn’t appear to be that sort of situation.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
stevespang 4y ago
[dead]
boeingUH60 4y ago
He has been selling blocks of shares since 2018 [1] like any other executive aware that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. According to the most recent SEC insider sale filing, he still owns about 100,000 shares in the bank. If he was that cunny...why won't he have sold them? Doesn't absorb him of carelessness in running the bank, but this is clickbait for the ignorant and perpetually angry. 1- https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityName=BECKER%2520GREGORY%2520W%2520(CIK%25200001259867) https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityNam...
- j_crick 4y ago
  > why won't he have sold them? To make the case for "hey it’s not that" if needed, for example?
  - boeingUH60 4y ago
    No need to attribute to malice when sheer incompetence can explain it.
    - j_crick 4y ago
      Dunno about that, I feel like this dichotomy is too often repeated to cover the original malice in the first place. I strongly doubt that those people got to where they were by being that incompetent.
- sowbug 4y ago
  You used a word I've never seen, in the phrase "If he was that [...]" I looked it up, and I really doubt you meant that word. Curious what you did mean. Was it "canny"? (As an ardent Wordle player, I'm always on the lookout for new five-letter words.)
  - pwnmonkey 4y ago
    I think they meant cunning.
flylib 4y ago
jail
marymkearney 4y ago
There was a more recent transaction: $3.6M on Feb. 27, "the first time in more than a year that Becker had sold shares in parent company SVB Financial Group." So, update "6 weeks ago" to "11 days ago," does it look different? Maybe. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-10/svb-chief-sold-3-6-million-in-stock-days-before-bank-s-failure https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-10/svb-chief...

47 points by marymkearney 4y ago

The sales were part of a prearranged executive stock sale plan, known as a 10b5-1 program, that Becker filed with the SEC... Jan. 26

swyx 4y ago
seriously, this is the cheapest clickbait and fortunately nobody important is making a big story out of this.
- mackman 4y ago
  You really don’t think he knew this was coming six weeks ago?
  - delfinom 4y ago
    He has been regularly selling stock for years Here are the SEC records which are public records: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityName=BECKER%2520GREGORY%2520W%2520(CIK%25200001259867) https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityNam...
  - AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
    I'm sure he knew things were in trouble (seems like they knew there was trouble for probably the past year or so) but I'm equally sure he thought the situation was salvageable probably up until the moment the FDIC walked in the door and maybe even now he thinks it could have been saved if they hadn't intervened.
  - sp332 4y ago
    Everyone else could see his plan to sell for the last six weeks.
__derek__ 4y ago
It was "prearranged" by one month. This honestly just demonstrates how easy it is to game 10B5-1 plans. I submitted this guy's newsletter separately, but it appears that SVB also lacked a Chief Risk Officer for most of 2022 and failed to explicitly disclose that until March 8 (i.e. two days ago).[1] It all looks pretty shady. [1]: https://nongaap.substack.com/p/sivb-held-to-mortem-governance https://nongaap.substack.com/p/sivb-held-to-mortem-governanc... (submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35098617 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35098617)
- marymkearney 4y ago
  Yes, this, thanks. The missing Chief Risk Officer is an issue. It's not necessarily nefarious, but the optics aren't great either. Edited to not repeat what you said. :)

foobarian 4y ago

It’s like saying so-and-so ate bread 48 hours before they got a heart attack.

uoaei 4y ago
No, it's like saying that it's ok that if you're rich enough you deserve to be first in line for heart transplants in the eventuality that you have a heart attack.
- foobarian 4y ago
  How does that follow? The guy probably cashes out that amount every quarter. So when there is an event like this of course you will find he cashed out what to us little people is a huge amount of money. If it's a one-off then yea it's suspicious.

mikekij 4y ago

It appears as though he sold exactly the number of shares required to cover the cost of exercising options that were about to expire with his after-tax proceeds. This does not seem to me to be a nefarious transaction.

rqtwteye 4y ago
Probably not nefarious. It's still annoying that the big guys can make millions while running a company into the ground.
- mikekij 4y ago
  To be clear, he likely has millions of shares of stock in SVB that are now worth exactly $0. He could end up being personally liable for SVB employee’s pay. In general, I too hate when the “rich people” win despite screwing up. This doesn’t appear to be that sort of situation.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

stevespang 4y ago

[dead]

boeingUH60 4y ago

He has been selling blocks of shares since 2018 [1] like any other executive aware that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. According to the most recent SEC insider sale filing, he still owns about 100,000 shares in the bank. If he was that cunny...why won't he have sold them? Doesn't absorb him of carelessness in running the bank, but this is clickbait for the ignorant and perpetually angry. 1- https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityName=BECKER%2520GREGORY%2520W%2520(CIK%25200001259867) https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/ciks=0001259867&entityNam...

j_crick 4y ago
> why won't he have sold them? To make the case for "hey it’s not that" if needed, for example?
- boeingUH60 4y ago
  No need to attribute to malice when sheer incompetence can explain it.
  - j_crick 4y ago
    Dunno about that, I feel like this dichotomy is too often repeated to cover the original malice in the first place. I strongly doubt that those people got to where they were by being that incompetent.
sowbug 4y ago
You used a word I've never seen, in the phrase "If he was that [...]" I looked it up, and I really doubt you meant that word. Curious what you did mean. Was it "canny"? (As an ardent Wordle player, I'm always on the lookout for new five-letter words.)
- pwnmonkey 4y ago
  I think they meant cunning.

flylib 4y ago

jail

marymkearney 4y ago

There was a more recent transaction: $3.6M on Feb. 27, "the first time in more than a year that Becker had sold shares in parent company SVB Financial Group." So, update "6 weeks ago" to "11 days ago," does it look different? Maybe. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-10/svb-chief-sold-3-6-million-in-stock-days-before-bank-s-failure https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-10/svb-chief...