EA exec sells entire stake in company

[ComeTurismO]

EA Sports EVP Andrew Wilson unloads all 32,085 shares for $687,000 after company hit highest value since end of 2011.

GameSpot
Well guys, in an SEC document (which was filed Thursday), Wilson sold al 32,085 shares at $21 each. He earned $687,000. The rest you can see above. Wilson now holds zero shares in EA. He also happens to be the only EA executive in such position. EA shares skyrocketed after announcing the Disney Star Wars Deal as well as the FIFA license extension.
However, if Wilson cashed out a few days back, he would've received thousands of dollars less, as EA shares bounced between $17 and $18 on Monday and Tuesday.

They closed Wednesday up more than 17 percent to $21.56, marking their highest level since the end of 2011.

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I find this a smart move, kind of. But, EA is still worse than the mafia.

 

[RupeeClock]

Chances are he will buy EA shares again if the company falls any further, which is likely if they screw up their Star Wars license.

 

[Taleweaver]

And now for my new kickstarter project: "make EA suck less". Target goal: $687,000.

 

[RchUncleSkeleton]

Either he knows the company is tanking or he's waiting til the stock drops to buy back in. I for one would never invest in a cold hearted greed driven company.

 

[war2thegrave]

I guess that means that you won't be investing at all then.

 

[Ray Lewis]

Standard, he felt the position would not be higher (maximize returns), and sold it all. Could be done, does not mean anything about EA. Stocks rise/fall, just life, and fixed casino gulag, lol.

 

[Nathan Drake]

This is the kind of stuff people who play the stock market big time wait for. Nothing unusual. Odds are, he contributed nothing to EA except owning a large part of it.

 

[Taleweaver]

Odds are, he contributed nothing to EA except owning a large part of it.

On the contrary: it would seriously surprise me if he didn't help out in a significant way to net those two deals. Greed driven or not...

Wait...let me rephrase that...

Though very greed-driven, you cannot deny that it actually gets results. It's like that guy that said "greed is good"*. Unfortunate as it might be...he was right about it.




*Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in the movie Wall street

 

[Bladexdsl]

even the execs have had enough of EA

 

[Pleng]

I for one would never invest in a cold hearted greed driven company.

I hope you're not considering a future in investments or financial advice, as those two properties are pretty much ideal for a money making investment!

 

[duffmmann]

Chances are he will buy EA shares again if the company falls any further, which is likely if they screw up their Star Wars license.

This whole situation reeks of insider trading. Wouldn't be surprised if EA stocks fall soon.

 

[Qtis]

This whole situation reeks of insider trading. Wouldn't be surprised if EA stocks fall soon.

Insider trading would be if he had bought the stock just a few days before the deals were signed, which I doubt very much. This could be compared to a company releasing its financial statement every year. After the deals were made public, anyone can do the same decision and sell the stock, since everyone has the same information. If this situation was considered insider trading, the whole stock market would be considered insider trading.

 

[FAST6191]

This whole situation reeks of insider trading. Wouldn't be surprised if EA stocks fall soon.

It is only insider trading it you use your insider knowledge before the announcements are made public (which given this was Thursday and the announcements hit a couple of days prior...). So given this came after the public announcements and he sold them it is unlikely he engaged in any. That said their annual report is typically filed in a couple of weeks and the last quarter filing was not so hot in a lot of ways (though it was not seen as such by the market).

As for rebuying shares.... it is a well accepted practice.

I pulled up last year's SEC filing and "We have not paid any cash dividends and do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future." was part of it and the executive bonuses did not seem to be tied to amount of stock owned (though the proxy statement was dry even by accounting standards so I could well have missed it). The only minor problem is that various execs were required to own common stock or something similar.

 

[Taleweaver]

It is only insider trading it you use your insider knowledge before the announcements are made public (which given this was Thursday and the announcements hit a couple of days prior...). So given this came after the public announcements and he sold them it is unlikely he engaged in any.

Not entirely unlikely. First of all, he obviously waited to sell until those two deals were made public (it doesn't take a genius to know that this will make the company more valuable), but that's not illegal.
It would be insider trading if that exec knows something that the general public has yet to find out. Something in the lines of "those games will run on the same servers as simcity". Or major budget cuts on the programming or testing environments. It could very well be that that guy realizes that the expected quality Disney and FIFA are expecting can't be delivered.


(note: I'm mostly familiar with the stock market in terms of scandals, so I may not be the best resource on this).

 

[duffmmann]

Insider trading would be if he had bought the stock just a few days before the deals were signed, which I doubt very much. This could be compared to a company releasing its financial statement every year. After the deals were made public, anyone can do the same decision and sell the stock, since everyone has the same information. If this situation was considered insider trading, the whole stock market would be considered insider trading.

Or if he knows the stocks are about to plummit.

 

[Gahars]

Or if he knows the stocks are about to plummit.

EA has had a mix of financial struggles and public fiascoes for awhile now. It doesn't take insider knowledge to figure out that cashing out while you still can is a good idea.

 

[duffmmann]

EA has had a mix of financial struggles and public fiascoes for awhile now. It doesn't take insider knowledge to figure out that cashing out while you still can is a good idea.

Eh, the same could have been said about Kmart, yet they busted Martha Stewart for it.

 

[Gahars]

Eh, the same could have been said about Kmart, yet they busted Martha Stewart for it.

Um, no? Martha Stewart was busted over ImCell, and the information she received (that their drug had failed FDA testing) was anything but obvious, public knowledge.

You're comparing apples and monster trucks here.

 

[duffmmann]

Um, no? Martha Stewart was busted over ImCell, and the information she received (that their drug had failed FDA testing) was anything but obvious, public knowledge.

You're comparing apples and monster trucks here.

That's really my point here. We don't know everything that's happening at EA, maybe this guy knows something behind closed doors that's about to happen at EA which is why the stocks would plummet. That's been my point here all along.

 

[Gahars]

Thats really my point here. We don't know everything thats happening at EA, maybe this guy knows something behind closed doors thats about to happen at EA which is why the stocks would plummit. Thats been my point here all along.

We know that EA's been struggling financially for awhile now. Many of their recent titles have under performed and they've been laying off staff. Couple that with some very public fiascoes (like the SimCity debacle) and it's no secret that EA isn't doing well. Their stock has been on a downward trend for quite awhile now. There is no need for insider knowledge to tell that EA's prospects aren't good.

Really, you're jumping to a wild conclusion here without any basis in evidence or fact.