Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg is clearly taking advantage of the social networking giant’s soaring stock price. Shares of Facebook have gained 154% over the past 12 months, and have been hovering around $70 for the past week. Sheryl Sandberg sold more than 280,000 shares of the company for about $20 million.
Sandberg’s holding falls below 10 million Facebook shares
The latest stock selling has reduced Sandberg’s personal holding in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to less than 10 million. Sandberg has consistently been selling shares and exercising restricted stock units over the past few months. According to her latest Form 4 filing with the SEC on Wednesday, Sandberg offloaded 25,134 class-A common shares at $69.1914 per share, 85,700 shares at $70.1942 each and another 172,500 shares at $70.9756 apiece. Now she owns 9,799,068 Facebook shares.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) chief technology officer Mike Schoepfer also sold 25,000 class-A shares at $68.75 apiece, according to his Form 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Schoepfer now holds 266,929 shares of the company. Many other senior Facebook executives including chief accounting officer Jas Athwal, CFO David Ebersman and general counsel Colin Stretch also sold shares of the company last week.
Facebook continues to reward Sandberg
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s rising stock made Sheryl Sandberg a billionaire last month. Apart from her close to 10 million shares, she also owns about 4.7 million stock options. The ex-Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) executive moved to the Menlo Park-based company in 2008. Since the social networking giant’s IPO in 2012, she has sold shares worth more than $300 million. In November, 2013, Sandberg also donated 400,000 Facebook shares. Author of The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick says that the Facebook COO does not do the billion-dollar work. She has just landed in the right place at the right time. The social networking giant is appreciating and rewarding her talent.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares ticked up 0.07% to $68.99 in pre-market trading Friday.
