WWE management selling their stock

[Loss]

http://www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_21092.shtml

 

New documents filed by WWE on Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange commission (SEC) indicates an across-the-board sell-off of WWE stock by major insider holders.

 

The significant sellers included Kevin Dunn, executive VP of TV production, who sold 10,698 shares on the open market for a value of $171,274. In the same filing, he acquired 50,000 shares of WWE stock that will yield a value depending on "performance, vesting, and forfeiture provisions."

 

WWE COO Michael Sileck sold 8,364 shares at $16.01 for a value of $133,907. In June, he sold 18,811 shares for a total value of $336,528 when the stock price was $17.89.

 

Over the last two years, WWE Films division president Joel Simon had only sold stock once prior to this week. Documents filed on Tuesday indicate he disposed of approximately 14 percent of his stock for $103,952.

 

Other significant sellers were Shane and Stephanie McMahon, who only disposed of 224 and 209 shares, respectively. John Laurinaitis, VP of Talent Relations, sold 4,779 shares for a value of $76,511.

 

The price of WWE stock dipped below $16.00 per share at the close of business on Tuesday for the first time since June 29, when the stock was impacted by the Chris Benoit story.

This may or may not mean anything, but it certainly doesn't look that good.

[CodySave]

The significant sellers included Kevin Dunn, executive VP of TV production, who sold 10,698 shares on the open market for a value of $171,274. In the same filing, he acquired 50,000 shares of WWE stock that will yield a value depending on "performance, vesting, and forfeiture provisions."

I don't know much about how the stock market or buying and selling stock works, but why would Dunn sell 10,000 shares of WWE stock and then turn around and buy 50,000 shares of WWE stock?

 

Is it a case that the sell price is cheaper than the buy price?

[Loss]

Sell and purchase price should be the same.

 

Re: the 50,000 shares, he probably only gets access to a portion of them per calendar year. My company has public stock, and it takes 7 years to be fully vested, meaning at that point you can sell all of your stock at any time without penalty. After a year, he'll have access to 10,000 shares (hypothetical number), 30,000 after 3 years, 40,000 after 5 years, etc. The amount of stock is probably also based on merit and performance, and he would be rewarded with more stock the better he did his job.

 

Pretty standard corporate stuff, but what caught my attention is all the stock dumping at the same time among execs. If they're acting on information to which they're privy that the public is unaware of, that is obviously highly illegal.

[kjh]

Sell and purchase price should be the same.

Not necessarily. Sometimes WWE executives get stock options where they can buy shares in the company at below market value and usually they sell the stock to the public not long after making a nice profit. I don't think that is the case here though with Kevin Dunn - your scenario sounds more likely.

 

Most of the trading doesn't look that suspicious. Kevin Dunn obtained more shares than he sold. Michael Sileck sold more shares before the Benoit tragedy than he did now. The sales by Shane and Stephanie were so insignificant you wonder why they bothered.

 

The point about them possibly acting on inside information is a valid one, but if you were currently a WWE excutive, wouldn't you also be jittery over the possibility of more negative fall out from the Benoit tragedy adversely affecting WWE's share price?

[Guest teke184]

If the SEC starts looking at the WWE execs, they could probably nail Dunn et all for short-swing stock sale violations and/or insider trading.

 

 

 

Technically, executives aren't supposed to be buying and selling stock within the same 6-month period, but that's rarely enforced.