Zuckerberg sells a chunk of Facebook stock as prices reach a record

Facebook co-founder sold 386,116 shares earlier this week at a weighted average price of $135.97

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Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg sold a chunk of the social network’s shares just as they rallied into record territory, according to regulatory filings.

In an S-4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday, Zuckerberg disclosed he sold a total of 386,116 Class A shares in a series of open-market trades throughout Monday and Tuesday at prices ranging from about $135.46 to $137.15. The weighted average price of the total sales was $135.97 and raised about $52.5 million.

FactSet

That is a tiny portion of Zuckerberg’s holdings. He controlled about 463.8 million Facebook shares, or 16.5% of the shares outstanding, as of a Feb. 14 SEC filing.

Facebook shares FB, +0.30% closed down 0.5% Thursday, while the Global X Social Media exchange-traded fund SOCL, +0.73% slumped 1.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.05% shed 0.6%.

Those executing Zuckerberg’s trades did a pretty nice job, considering the stock’s volume-weighted average price (VWAP) over those two days was $136.00, according to FactSet.

On Monday, the stock had rallied to an all-time intraday high of $137.18 before settling at a record close of $136.41. The intraday low that day was $135.02, while the VWAP for Monday was $136.19.

Zuckerberg sold 192,874 shares at a weighted average price of $136.10. He sold 100 shares at $137.15, just shy of the intraday high of $137.18. The low price of his sales was $135.46, well above the intraday low of $135.02.

On Tuesday, the stock traded in a range of $134.75 to $136.80 before closing at $135.54. The VWAP was $135.80.

Zuckerberg sold 193,242 shares on Tuesday at an weighted average price of $135.84. He sold 200 shares at about $136.80, while the low price for sales—about $135.56—was about 81 cents above the day’s low.

Since then, the stock rallied to a record close of $137.42 on Wednesday, before pulling back 0.4% in afternoon trade Thursday.

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The best part of Zuckerberg’s dealings wasn’t the sales. He also acquired a total of 147,094 shares through the conversion of derivative securities, a block of 73,476 shares on Monday and a block of 73,618 shares on Tuesday. Including those purchases, Zuckerberg’s net sales totaled 239,022 shares.

The price at which the shares were acquired? Zero, according to the filings.

Based on the average selling price, Zuckerberg would have netted $20 million on the 147,094 shares he bought and sold over those two days