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Here is the takeway: "Mr. Rowghani has been selling Twitter shares heavily since May, when insiders were first allowed to sell after the company’s initial publ

by djloche 12y ago

Here is the takeway: "Mr. Rowghani has been selling Twitter shares heavily since May, when insiders were first allowed to sell after the company’s initial public offering in November. Last month, he sold 300,000 shares, worth about $10 million. And this month, he sold nearly 75,000 shares worth more than $2.5 million. He remains a major stockholder, however, owning about two million shares, according to his latest regulatory filing." This is a non-story. This is a guy that had a mountain of net-worth 'on paper' and since he is now legally able to, he's brought a portion of that net-worth into the bank. I don't know about you, but if I had 50MM+ on paper in a single investment, I'd want to take at least a fifth of it and turn it into cash for investing elsewhere, building that dream home, going on vacation, etc. Now, maybe he's filthy rich already, but this just strikes me as a very typical, sane 'diversify your assets' type of situation.

JonFish85 12y ago
My personal take on this is that the company is desperate to seem confident in the future. If the executives sell stock, the employees sell, and suddenly there'd be a large-scale sell-off, I think. My guess would be that the executives are holding onto it to try to infuse some sense of stability for now, but they'll start looking for the exits shortly, and when they leave, they'll liquidate their holdings. I think you're spot on with your analysis, but I think it hurts the image of Twitter executives holding their stock because they're confident that it'll continue to go up.
thesis 12y ago
Correct. Sheryl Sandberg has been dumping stock recently as well. http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-sells-152m-of-fb-stock-2014-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-sells-152m-of...
_pmf_ 12y ago
> Last month, he sold 300,000 shares, worth about $10 million. And this month, he sold nearly 75,000 shares worth more than $2.5 million. A clever man.
justicezyx 12y ago
Hmm... This does cast a shadow on Twitter's future. It's a shadow, so it does not have solid ground to back it, but it's a shadow, so it makes people nervous.
nrao123 12y ago
"There was, in fact, a question at a recent “tea time” — bi-weekly employee meetings with top execs — about Rowghani’s large sale of his shares. Those in attendance told me that Rowghani got up and told the audience that he was not thrilled to answer the question, but noted that he wanted the money to give to research to battle a disease that took his father’s life. It was an emotional address, said those present." http://recode.net/2014/06/11/twitter-mulling-shake-up-of-top-execs-including-coo-ali-rowghani/ http://recode.net/2014/06/11/twitter-mulling-shake-up-of-top...
- friendcomputer 12y ago
  I wonder why he didn't donate the shares directly, isn't that simpler for tax reasons?
autokad 12y ago
how is selling his shares the takeaway and not resigning from his position? it would seem that they mentioned the share selling because they feel that this was foreshadowing him leaving the company when he did it. it would seem that that share selling was not simple profit taking, even though I agree it would be sensible to sell shares and turn some of that 'net worth' into hard assets or reinvest it

by djloche 12y ago

JonFish85 12y ago

My personal take on this is that the company is desperate to seem confident in the future. If the executives sell stock, the employees sell, and suddenly there'd be a large-scale sell-off, I think. My guess would be that the executives are holding onto it to try to infuse some sense of stability for now, but they'll start looking for the exits shortly, and when they leave, they'll liquidate their holdings. I think you're spot on with your analysis, but I think it hurts the image of Twitter executives holding their stock because they're confident that it'll continue to go up.

thesis 12y ago

Correct. Sheryl Sandberg has been dumping stock recently as well. http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-sells-152m-of-fb-stock-2014-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-sells-152m-of...

_pmf_ 12y ago

> Last month, he sold 300,000 shares, worth about $10 million. And this month, he sold nearly 75,000 shares worth more than $2.5 million. A clever man.

justicezyx 12y ago

Hmm... This does cast a shadow on Twitter's future. It's a shadow, so it does not have solid ground to back it, but it's a shadow, so it makes people nervous.

nrao123 12y ago

"There was, in fact, a question at a recent “tea time” — bi-weekly employee meetings with top execs — about Rowghani’s large sale of his shares. Those in attendance told me that Rowghani got up and told the audience that he was not thrilled to answer the question, but noted that he wanted the money to give to research to battle a disease that took his father’s life. It was an emotional address, said those present." http://recode.net/2014/06/11/twitter-mulling-shake-up-of-top-execs-including-coo-ali-rowghani/ http://recode.net/2014/06/11/twitter-mulling-shake-up-of-top...

friendcomputer 12y ago
I wonder why he didn't donate the shares directly, isn't that simpler for tax reasons?

autokad 12y ago

how is selling his shares the takeaway and not resigning from his position? it would seem that they mentioned the share selling because they feel that this was foreshadowing him leaving the company when he did it. it would seem that that share selling was not simple profit taking, even though I agree it would be sensible to sell shares and turn some of that 'net worth' into hard assets or reinvest it