Moderna shares fell 3% in morning trading as its CEO sold over $400M of company shares during the pandemic.
Stephane Bancel, Chief Executive of the COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), has offloaded $408 million worth of company shares since January 2020,CNBC reported Thursday, citing an analysis of the company’s securities filings.
Equilar, a company providing data on executive compensation, has independently verified the value of Bancel’s sales. However, he has made the sales in line with the 10b5-1 stock plans adopted in 2018.
According to the report, as Moderna (MRNA) shares surged with its successes in the COVID-19 vaccine front, Bancel has become a billionaire with an estimated net worth of more than $5.3 billion based only on his company equity as of March 01.
Developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Moderna’s (MRNA) vaccine is the second most widely used COVID-19 shot in the U.S.
However, the company is battling several parties, including the NIH, for certainpatent rights for the mRNA-based shot.