“A lot of these directors don’t own these stock,” says Mario Gabelli, GAMCO Investors, commenting on Facebook director Peter Thiel selling a majority of his Facebook stock. “He still has $200 million worth of stock… What’s wrong with that?”
Transcript:
our guest host this morning is one of wall street’s most famed value investors, mario gam belly. — gam — gabelli. a lot of directors don’t own any stock. here’s a guy who i read still has 200 millions worth. he’s got skin in the game. what’s wrong with tha in. no problem that he’s still on the board? what’s wrong with it? if a guy is smart and has value, the fact he still has $100 million worth of stock, he still has skin in the game. the timing, to do is when the stock has been so closely watched since it went public and since there’s been so much pressure and you’ve had zuckerberg telling people have faith, see your way through it — why not just resign. you’ve taken your profits — why not just resign? maybe he will. the body is not buried yet. doesn’t it say i no longer support the stock? not necessarily. i sell stock all the time in companies i happen to like. i have 1,700 clients and we have a mandate to earn a return. i’ve got to harvest sometimes. that’s part of the process of venture capitalism. but he has to — it creates issues with guys that you just talked about and the whole transparency issue. can i not recommend a guy like me sitting on the board of a public company. i don’t mind putting professionals on. some of them adopt that stockholm syndrome. they love the fee. i’m not going to defend him. it is what it is. also, in the next hour, squawk market master ron baron joins us.
