Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Sells Half of her Shares in 2 Years

Chief Operating Officer of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg speaks during a panel session on the last day of the 44th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, 25 January 2014 / Photo: EPA

Chief operating officer still owns $1bn in shares, while Mark Zuckerberg takes pay cut

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg has sold more than half the shares she owned when the social network went public just two years ago.

Ms Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer and its most high-profile executive after founder Mark Zuckerberg, has reduced her holding to 17.2m shares now worth just over $1bn (£600m), according toregulatory filings published by Facebook.

This compares to the 41.2m detailed when Facebook filed for its initial public offering in March 2012. Ms Sandberg, a former Google executive who also served in the Clinton administration, is often tipped for a return to politics, and it has been suggested that she is building up a campaign fund.

The vast majority of Ms Sandberg’s shares when Facebook went public were in the form of restricted stock units, meaning they were converted to basic shares at intervals after the IPO. A portion of her holding was sold to cover the taxes that were charged when these shares vested.

Facebook also revealed that both Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Sandberg took pay cuts last year. Mr Zuckerberg, who owns 476m shares worth almost $30bn, was paid an annual salary of just $1 in 2013, down from $503,205.

Click here to continue reading… 

SOURCE: James Titcomb 
Telegraph