Why Are Billionaires Selling Shares of Their Companies? | SoFi (2024)

Dumping Shares

Three of America’s most prominent business leaders have been unloading shares of their respective companies over the past few months.

Meta’s (META) Mark Zuckerberg sold $400 million worth of stock in the final months of 2023, while Jeff Bezos sold Amazon (AMZN) stock worth an estimated $8.5 billion in February alone. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan (JPM), unloaded roughly $150 million this month as well. Investors watching might wonder, do they know something we don’t?

What Does This Mean?

First things first, these stock sales were well telegraphed ahead of time, which is common when it comes to executives of publicly traded companies. After all, executives know what’s going on inside their companies but cannot trade based on that information. Hence the scheduled offloading of shares.

It’s also worth remembering that in spite of the big tickets sales, all three still hold a lot of stock, and only sold a small fraction.

What’s left then is to look at how the stock of Meta, Amazon, and JPMorgan has been doing lately. All three companies’ share prices are up significantly year-over-year: JPMorgan by 30%, Amazon by nearly 90%, and Meta by a whopping 186%. With such eye-popping gains, part of the reason for the big sales may just have been about freeing up some cash.

Read more reporting here .

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Why Are Billionaires Selling Shares of Their Companies? | SoFi (2024)

FAQs

Why are billionaires selling stocks right now? ›

"Billionaire CEOs like [Jeff] Bezos, [Mark] Zuckerberg, Jamie Dimon, and the Walton family are selling off massive amounts of their own stocks, and analysts think the CEOS may be bracing for an economic downturn," he said, adding, “An overheated stock market continues to climb to new heights as investors feed that ...

Why are the billionaires cashing out stocks? ›

Many of the sales were made according to trading plans that automatically sell shares at a specific date or stock. The goal being to avoid any hint of insider trading. However, analysts think there are other motivations for the sale. One consultant said sales could be due to the upcoming election.

What is the reason behind selling shares of stock of a company? ›

There are many valid reasons to sell all or part of a business. Selling shares in a business can generate significant cash, which can be used to pay down debts or fund investments or charitable donations. Likewise, selling part of a business can reduce the owner's risk and allow them to diversify their personal assets.

Why would an owner of a business sell shares of his company? ›

The main reason why most companies sell shares of stock is to raise money for the company. For a certain sum, an investor can buy stock in the company, thus granting them ownership rights in it. With this, investors can participate in the company's growth and profit.

Why are Bezos and Zuckerberg selling shares? ›

Bezos, 60, has been buying up real estate in his new home of South Florida, which conveniently has no state capital gains tax. Zuckerberg, 39, has been selling Meta stock to fund philanthropy. They don't want to sell too low, but they probably don't want to be perceived as pulling a Musk-like move.

Why is Warren Buffett selling his stock? ›

The most logical reason Buffett and his investing crew pared down their Apple stake is to offset realized investment losses from Paramount Global and HP. Buffett's company is sitting on an estimated $119 billion in unrealized gains on its Apple stock.

Why are rich people dumping their stocks? ›

No investors, let alone billionaires, will want to own stocks with falling profit margins and shrinking dividends. So if that's why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros are dumping stocks, they have decided to cash out early and leave Main Street investors holding the bag.

Why are super rich selling stocks? ›

Given their higher level of volatility and risk, stocks are only an attractive investment if they offer a significantly better return than safer options like U.S. government bonds. With returns on very low-risk investments so elevated, wealthy investors may be seeing better alternatives elsewhere.

Why are big CEOs selling their stocks? ›

Why it matters: It makes sense even for billionaires to diversify out of having the overwhelming majority of their wealth in a single stock. Now's a great time to do just that. By the numbers: Between them, the three moguls have sold $9.3 billion of stock in less than a month, per Jonathan Moreland of Insider Insights.

Who gets the money when a company sells shares? ›

Shareholders receive their share of the sale proceeds based on their stake in the company. The process may also include paying any taxes or legal fees incurred during the sale process.

What are the disadvantages of selling shares? ›

One of the primary disadvantages of selling shares is the potential loss of control for existing shareholders, especially if you sell a significant portion of ownership to external investors. New shareholders may have differing opinions on business strategies and decision-making, which could lead to conflicts.

Who pays when a stock is sold? ›

When you sell your stocks the buyer pays the money; when you buy the stocks the money you paid goes to the seller. The transactions are handled by stock brokers.

What is a 51 control of a company? ›

A 51/49 operating agreement names one person as the majority owner in the company and the other as the minority owner. This means that the majority owner has the final say in decisions related to the company, including issues like: Prices for products or services. Vendors the company partners with.

Why are people selling shares? ›

Investors might sell their stocks is to adjust their portfolio or free up money. Investors might also sell a stock when it hits a price target, or the company's fundamentals have deteriorated. Still, investors might sell a stock for tax purposes or because they need the money in retirement for income.

What happens when you buy 51 of a company? ›

So majority, which is 51% usually, I mean, majority can mean different things, but, generally speaking, when you hear that word, it means 51%. So, if that's the standard vote that's required to take an action, it means that the 51% holder has all the power to make all the decisions.

Why are the Waltons selling stock? ›

When asked for comment, Walmart referred Business Insider to a 2015 statement from Walton Enterprises announcing a plan to sell shares "from time to time" as a way to keep the family's ownership below 50% of the company and to fund charitable initiatives.

Why are stocks being sold? ›

Investors might sell their stocks is to adjust their portfolio or free up money. Investors might also sell a stock when it hits a price target, or the company's fundamentals have deteriorated. Still, investors might sell a stock for tax purposes or because they need the money in retirement for income.

Who buy stocks when everyone is selling? ›

But there's one group of investors who charge in to buy when stocks are selling off: the corporate insiders. How do they do it? They have 2 key advantages over you and me that provide them the edge during uncertain times. If you follow their lead, you can have that edge too.

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