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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Facebook’s billionaire insiders, "We’re selling, nothing personal"

Peter Thiel, who made a major investment early on in Facebook Inc. FB, and Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of the No. 1 social network who was a roommate of Mark Zuckerberg’s, have been unloading their stakes in the company, even as Facebook stock continues to trade at levels 50% below its May IPO price of $38 .

Thiel sold almost 17 million shares during that initial public offering, and in mid-August sold more than 20 million for about $20 each. That’s 87% of his holdings, according to Silicon Alley Insider. (For those keeping score, that’s more than a $1 billion return on an early investment of $500,000.) Thiel still holds some 5.6 million shares and a board seat on the company.

Apparently, Facebook’s Zuckerberg appreciates Thiel’s contrary takes on issues on technology and society, given the investor’s interest in artificial intelligence and view of higher education as obsolete, SAI says.

Moskovitz, for his part, hasn’t been with the company for four years, and is working on a software firm called Asana as well as philanthropy. From Aug. 17 to Sept. 4, he has sold 150,000 shares every trading day, for a total sale 1.8 million shares and proceeds of $34.5 million.

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