Mark Zuckerberg Initiates Stock Sale from Meta Platforms Inc. After Strong 2023 Recovery
Meta Platforms Inc.'s co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has decided to sell company stock for the first time in two years, marking a departure from his previous stance. The decision comes on the heels of Meta's impressive rebound in 2023 following a tumultuous 2022.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg from regulatory filings, entities managing Zuckerberg's fortune, including his trust and those associated with charitable and political endeavors, sold approximately 682,000 Meta shares, totaling nearly $185 million in November. This marks the first instance of such sales since November 2021.
The surge in Meta's stock by 172% throughout the year until the end of November has positioned it as one of the top-performing US tech companies, trailing only behind Nvidia Corp.
This remarkable performance is proving beneficial for Zuckerberg's external ventures, including venture capital, scientific research, and impact investments.
While Zuckerberg has routinely divested blocks of Meta stock over the past decade, he refrained from selling any shares in 2022, a year plagued by catastrophic quarterly results that led to one of the most substantial single-day stock declines and Meta's worst annual performance since its 2012 initial public offering.
As Meta's stock approaches record highs from 2021, Zuckerberg, holding about 13% of the company, continues to have a substantial financial stake, constituting almost all of his $117.7 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, 38, have committed to allocating 99% of their wealth to philanthropic causes during their lifetimes, focusing on initiatives such as promoting equality and curing diseases.
More than half of the recent Meta stock sales were attributed to shares controlled by their charitable foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Notably, a relatively smaller portion of the stock sale, around $19 million, was directed to the advocacy arm of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
This organization has been instrumental in funding initiatives related to voter mobilization and immigration reform.
Earlier this year, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pledged $250 million to establish a biomedical research hub in Chicago, adding to its previous support for addressing housing shortages in the San Francisco Bay area and early-stage investments to train software developers in Africa.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative currently boasts net assets of about $6.3 billion and is jointly led by Zuckerberg and Chan, as per the latest filings.
Meta's stock has witnessed a remarkable increase of over 200% since the couple pledged eight years ago to give away the majority of their fortune.
Benjamin Stupples / Bloomberg
