Major investors of public companies are required to disclose when they buy and sell stock. A few have done so for Facebook Inc. in recent days, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission:
— Monday: Disclosure that Peter Thiel, a member of Facebook’s board, sold about 20 million shares at $19.27 to $20.69 each on Aug. 16 and 17. That amounted to nearly $400 million. Thiel is managing partner at The Founders Fund and a co-founder of PayPal. He had been subject to a lock-up period restricting sale of those shares until Aug. 16. As one of Facebook’s initial investors, he first invested $500,000 in the company in 2004. He sold 16.8 million shares in the company’s May initial public offering for about $640 million. With the most recent sales, Thiel has now sold most of his stake in the company.
