Pfizer CEO sold US$5.6M in stock the day he announced promising vaccine news

[.Detective.]

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla filed to sell millions of dollars of his company's stock Monday -- the day the pharmaceutical giant announced positive data about its coronnavirus vaccine.

The company's shares soared after Pfizer and European drug company BioNTech said early data suggests the vaccine could be more than 90% effective.

The transaction was part of a regularly scheduled plan set up by Bourla to periodically sell some of his Pfizer shares.

Bourla sold 132,508 Pfizer shares at a price of US$41.94, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That works out to proceeds of nearly $5.6 million.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said in an email to CNN Business that the sale took place because Pfizer shares hit a predetermined price as part of a plan authorized by Bourla on August 19.

When asked if Pfizer and Bourla thought to cancel the stock sale due to the perception that Bourla might be cashing in on good news, the spokeswoman said that "these are predetermined plans managed through a third-party stock administrator."

Many executives sell stock at predetermined intervals to diversify their portfolios. But they can delay the sales to avoid appearances of capitalizing on one-off events that can boost company's shares.

Bouria told CNN's Sanjay Gupta that he learned of the trial's results Sunday, a day before they were made public.

Click to shrink...

Pfizer CEO sold US$5.6M in stock the day he announced promising vaccine news

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla filed to sell millions of dollars of his company's stock Monday -- the day the pharmaceutical giant announced positive data about its coronnavirus vaccine.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Deleted member 22630]

I guess?

 

[Septimus Prime]

The transaction was part of a regularly scheduled plan set up by Bourla to periodically sell some of his Pfizer shares.

Click to shrink...

This is key.

 

[makingmusic476]

I was going to ask if this means he doesn't expect the stock's value to continue rising, but apparently this was a pre-planned sell.

 

[Fat4all]

i wish i could make millions of dollars at predetermined intervals

 

[CostcoCousteau]

internet high Pfizer

 

[Deleted member 2802]

That's quite the scheduled sell off

 

[Imperfected]

i wish i could make millions of dollars at predetermined intervals

Click to shrink...

Oops I accidentally $5,600,000. My bad guys, would have held out for $10,000,000 if I had been paying attention to my stonks, lol.

 

[.Detective.]

This is key.

Click to shrink...

Quite a coincidence, though? And Moderna earlier in the year, had a similar coincidence.

The Pfizer stock sale comes just a few months after executives at Moderna, a biotech also working on a COVID-19 vaccine, sold shares following the release of promising trial results. Critics accused Moderna of overhyping the vaccine trial results, but the company nonetheless raised US$1.3 billion in a stock sale immediately following the vaccine trial announcement. Executives then executed a series of transactions worth tens of millions of dollars before the company's share price fizzled a week later.

Some former SEC officials called on Moderna to be investigated for potential illegal market manipulation.

Click to shrink...

 

[Inugami]

It's a big sum, but probably wouldn't have been the best sell off time. It's not there most suspect time(normally you'd expect insiders to sell before bad news, not good news).

 

[BloodHound]

This is key.

Click to shrink...

He could also time the announcement to his regular stock sell if he knew the Goodwill and hype would provide a momentary boost.

But it's not these CEOs aren't breaking FTC rules all the time

 

[RedNalgene]

I don't see how this is a problem. He set a target price to sell at. They announced the news, stock jumped, hit the target and auto-executed. This is pretty standard stuff, I've done this myself. It all feels like an attempt to make drama out of a nothingburger.

 

[Smitington]

As long as he sold after the announcement, I don't really see any problem with this.

 

[killerrin]

I don't see a problem with a CEO selling on good news. As long as that news is actually true. The problem comes when they sell on bad news before the news goes live. That's when heads need to start rolling.

 

[Operations]

He had a standing sale order on a predetermined price. Nothing sinister here other than that this kind of money is out of reach for the regular man. But then again, he is the CEO of the company whose vaccine will save potentially millions of lives, not the regular guy in the street.

 

[Imperfected]

He could also time the announcement to his regular stock sell if he knew the Goodwill and hype would provide a momentary boost.

But it's not these CEOs aren't breaking FTC rules all the time

Click to shrink...

Yeeeeeah, I don't think the odds that he was keeping news of a successful vaccine bottled up until his scheduled sell-off is very likely.

I don't think anyone right now would have the confidence to try and keep "WE'VE GOT A VACCINE!" under their hat for more than, what, maybe a week?

 

[m_shortpants]

This is click bait. C levels and executives have to put sell plans in writing months in advance.

 

[BloodHound]

Yeeeeeah, I don't think the odds that he was keeping news of a successful vaccine bottled up until his scheduled sell-off is very likely.

I don't think anyone right now would have the confidence to try and keep "WE'VE GOT A VACCINE!" under their hat for more than, what, maybe a week?

Click to shrink...

That's the thing. It isn't a successful vaccine. It's a statement that says we are 90% there....for less than a hundred patients we've tested it on. We are still several months away from a successful vaccine, so his statement is just good PR, which can help provide short term gains in the stock market.

 

[BringBackSonics]

I don't see how this is a problem. He set a target price to sell at. They announced the news, stock jumped, hit the target and auto-executed. This is pretty standard stuff, I've done this myself. It all feels like an attempt to make drama out of a nothingburger.

Click to shrink...

Yup, it's a nothing burger, there are many things that we can go after big pharma.

 

[Armadilo]

It hasn't even gone up yet in stocks, I bought a stock months ago, probably won't go up until they get it out and make deals with this

 

[Sheepinator]

Just like with Moderna, the timing is suspect. So let's say the CEO knows his plan will sell shares on that date. Maybe he delays an announcement to get the most hype at just the right time. Maybe he rushes an announcement to get hype in time for his stock sales.

He sold at $41.94. The 52-week high is $41.99. The stock is now $38.50.

 

[Lv99 Slacker]

Until the vaccine is actually ready and available, I'll regard any news of its efficacy as a pump and dump scheme.

 

[Unrivaled]

Yeah this is pretty sus not going to lie.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Just like with Moderna, the timing is suspect. So let's say the CEO knows his plan will sell shares on that date. Maybe he delays an announcement to get the most hype at just the right time. Maybe he rushes an announcement to get hype in time for his stock sales.

He sold at $41.94. The 52-week high is $41.99. The stock is now $38.50.

Click to shrink...

They set a price in 2019. They announce good news about the vaccine. The stock skyrockets along with the rest of the stock market as soon as the news hits, triggering the sale along the way.

Nothing in there is weird.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Just like with Moderna, the timing is suspect. So let's say the CEO knows his plan will sell shares on that date. Maybe he delays an announcement to get the most hype at just the right time. Maybe he rushes an announcement to get hype in time for his stock sales.

He sold at $41.94. The 52-week high is $41.99. The stock is now $38.50.

Click to shrink...

Conspiracy Era outdoing itself again. Jesus Christ...

 

[davepoobond]

As long as he sold after the announcement, I don't really see any problem with this.

Click to shrink...

wouldn't it be stupid to sell before a good announcement?

Just like with Moderna, the timing is suspect. So let's say the CEO knows his plan will sell shares on that date. Maybe he delays an announcement to get the most hype at just the right time. Maybe he rushes an announcement to get hype in time for his stock sales.

He sold at $41.94. The 52-week high is $41.99. The stock is now $38.50.

Click to shrink...

you can easily set a price to sell at and just let it ride until it hits a price you want it to hit.

I have stocks in Sony. It is less than 50 right now. If I schedule it to sell at 1000 a share, it would never sell unless it actually hit 1000 for some reason. But it would if it did and if I did it 10 years ago it would

 

[Advance.Wars.Sgt.]

So this is basically more "eat the rich" drivel for the masses?

 

[Ikuu]

Until the vaccine is actually ready and available, I'll regard any news of its efficacy as a pump and dump scheme.

Click to shrink...

Major Facebook boomer energy here.

 

[Joni]

If he is lying and then sells stocks, he becomes criminally liable personally. So this makes it less likely they are lying about the results.

 

[Gemüsepizza]

So it's predetermined intervals, but the sale only goes through if it hits a certain price? How convenient.

 

[Ashhong]

Why would I as a company, decide to hold off on the sale because of what it be seen as? The proof is there that it was predetermined. What a dumb thought

 

[Joni]

So it's predetermined intervals, but the sale only goes through if it hits a certain price? How convenient.

Click to shrink...

Yes. Why would you sell at a lower price then you're happy with? If it didn't hit the price this week, it could have sold next week or a month after as long as it hit the price.

 

[SABO.]

Sometimes life just goes your way

 

[Antiax]

I know this was pre-determined plan but is no one really wondering why actually Pfizer decided to share the news on that day where CEO was supposed to sell his stock?

 

[gaugebozo]

I'm trying to figure out what the nefarious part would be if he sold it on purpose when the good news broke. He has a bunch of stock, good news breaks, he sells it to make money, and?

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

They set a price in 2019. They announce good news about the vaccine. The stock skyrockets along with the rest of the stock market as soon as the news hits, triggering the sale along the way.

Nothing in there is weird.

Click to shrink...

The plan schedules sells on a specific schedule. He could have purposely with held the press release to better time it for his schedule stock sell of

If the plan was based around a strike/sale price then it's different

 

[Specific Power Ranger]

I'm trying to figure out what the nefarious part would be if he sold it on purpose when the good news broke. He has a bunch of stock, good news breaks, he sells it to make money, and?

Click to shrink...

I'm guessing it might be considered insider trading ?

 

[Joni]

I know this was pre-determined plan but is no one really wondering why actually Pfizer decided to share the news on that day where CEO was supposed to sell his stock?

Click to shrink...

He didn't put in a date, he put in a price. Meaning, sell X amount when price reaches Y. if that is mid-October, sell mid-October. If it is mid-November, sell mid-November. So if he announced it a week earlier, it would have sold a week earlier.

 

[Deleted member 2802]

I know this was pre-determined plan but is no one really wondering why actually Pfizer decided to share the news on that day where CEO was supposed to sell his stock?

Click to shrink...

The Warp Speed director has $10M stock in one of the vaccines companies

Liz Warren wanted him out. He says it's his retirement fund and is going to give all the post-covid profits to charity

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/23/trumps-coronavirus-vaccine-czar-says-enough-after-sen-warren-says-he-should-be-fired-for-conf.html

These people are already multimillionaires. I'm not sure what an extra 6-10 million does for them

I'm trying to figure out what the nefarious part would be if he sold it on purpose when the good news broke. He has a bunch of stock, good news breaks, he sells it to make money, and?

Click to shrink...

Well the "90% effective" is based on an Interim Analysis

Interim analysis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So if it doesn't end up being 90% effective in the gen pop . . . you just made ~$6M on a hyped up science brag

 

[Xando]

I know this was pre-determined plan but is no one really wondering why actually Pfizer decided to share the news on that day where CEO was supposed to sell his stock?

Click to shrink...

They got the data on sunday and shared it on monday

 

[demosthenes]

This is key.

Click to shrink...

This will largely be ignored.

 

[Sheepinator]

Where are people getting that it was a predetermined price? Pfizer says the sale was at a predetermined time.

"The sale of these shares is part of Dr. Bourla's personal financial planning and a pre-established (10b5-1) plan, which allows, under SEC rules, major shareholders and insiders of exchange-listed corporations to trade a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time," a Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement.

Reuters | Breaking International News & Views

Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage.

br.reuters.com

 

[teruterubozu]

This is key.

Click to shrink...

And so is this.

But they can delay the sales to avoid appearances of capitalizing on one-off events that can boost company's shares.

Click to shrink...

 

[TarpitCarnivore]

Where are people getting that it was a predetermined price? Pfizer says the sale was at a predetermined time.

"The sale of these shares is part of Dr. Bourla's personal financial planning and a pre-established (10b5-1) plan, which allows, under SEC rules, major shareholders and insiders of exchange-listed corporations to trade a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time," a Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement.

Reuters | Breaking International News & Views

Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage.

br.reuters.com

Click to shrink...

In the story OP shared the spokesperson claims it was by price

In the NPR story I read they said it was "predetermined time"

 

[Antiax]

He didn't put in a date, he put in a price. Meaning, sell X amount when price reaches Y. if that is mid-October, sell mid-October. If it is mid-November, sell mid-November. So if he announced it a week earlier, it would have sold a week earlier.

Click to shrink...

That would explain everything. I haven't heard of that earlier. Do you have any source on that?

 

[Joni]

That would explain everything. I haven't heard of that earlier. Do you have any source on that?

Click to shrink...

It is there in the OP, combined with a bit of knowledge I have on how this works. Unless you are desperate, you always put in a specific minimum when selling or a maximum when buying.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said in an email to CNN Business that the sale took place because Pfizer shares hit a predetermined price as part of a plan authorized by Bourla on August 19.

Click to shrink...

 

[Magneton]

I'm surprised (even though I really shouldn't be) that there are so many people in this thread dismissing this shadiness. From this NPR article:

Daniel Taylor, an expert in insider trading and an associate professor of accounting at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has closely monitored stock trades by executives at companies developing coronavirus vaccines. He told NPR that the close timing between the adoption of Bourla's stock plan and the press release looked "very suspicious."

"It's wholly inappropriate for executives at pharmaceutical companies to be implementing or modifying 10b5-1 plans the business day before they announce data or results from drug trials," Taylor said.

Click to shrink...

 

[tabris]

EDIT - Wrong thread, sorry for bump.