Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Meta Platforms Inc., is selling Meta stock for the first time in two years following the company's impressive rebound in 2022. According to regulatory filings, Zuckerberg's trust, as well as entities responsible for his charitable and political endeavors, sold approximately 682,000 shares worth nearly $185 million in November, with the latest disclosure made on Wednesday. This marks the first time that entities managing Zuckerberg's fortune have sold shares since November 2021.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has experienced a remarkable surge of 172% in its stock price this year, outperforming most major US tech companies, with the exception of Nvidia Corp. This robust performance has provided Zuckerberg with an opportune time to maximize the proceeds for his various activities outside of Meta, such as venture capital investments, scientific research, and impact investments.
While Zuckerberg has regularly sold blocks of Meta stock over the past decade, he did not sell a single share in 2022. During this time, Meta faced significant challenges, including catastrophic quarterly results that resulted in one of the largest one-day stock losses and the worst annual performance since its IPO in 2012.
Today, Meta's stock is approaching the record highs set in 2021, when both Zuckerberg and his charitable foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, sold over $1 billion worth of shares. Currently, the 39-year-old tech billionaire still holds around 13% of Meta's shares, accounting for nearly all of his $117.7 billion fortune, as reported by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have consistently demonstrated their commitment to philanthropy. They have previously pledged to allocate 99% of their wealth towards initiatives that promote equality and work towards curing diseases. More than half of the recent stock sales from Meta were made by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's advocacy arm received the smallest portion of the selling spree, amounting to approximately $19 million. The organization has been actively funding projects to mobilize voters and advance immigration reform.
Earlier this year, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pledged $250 million to establish a biomedical research hub in Chicago. They have also supported efforts to address the housing shortage in the San Francisco Bay Area and provided early-stage investments for software development training in Africa.
Since the couple's pledge eight years ago to give away the majority of their fortune, Meta's stock has risen by more than 200%. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, based in Palo Alto, California, currently has net assets of approximately $6.3 billion and is led jointly by Zuckerberg and Chan, according to recent filings.