New York
CNN
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Many of America’s wealthiest business leaders have lost millions, if not billions, of dollars in net worth since the start of the year, as President Donald Trump’s policies hit markets. But some might have lost even more if they hadn’t offloaded millions of dollars’ worth of stock prior to Trump’s tariff announcement in early April — not necessarily because they knew something the rest of us didn’t, but because the wealthiest investors treat their portfolios somewhat differently than the average investor.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle CEO Safra Catz and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon were among the top 10 stock sellers by value during the first three months of this year, according to data from The Washington Service, which tracks buying and selling by corporate insiders.
Together, the top 10 insider sellers sold more than 28 million shares of their companies, worth a combined $3.9 billion, during the first quarter, the data shows. That was before markets took a precipitous drop when Trump announced on April 2 widespread tariff hikes on America’s trading partners. Trump has since flip-flopped on many of those tariff plans, but uncertainty has continued to roil markets.
Bloomberg first reported on The Washington Service data. Representatives for Zuckerberg, Dimon and Catz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Corporate executives generally offload stock at regularly scheduled intervals, and there’s no indication that the top sellers were looking to get ahead of the tariff announcement. Still, the timing meant they suffered smaller losses in the value of their stock holdings than if they had sold weeks later.
Zuckerberg sold 1.1 million shares worth nearly $733.5 million during the first quarter. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show the sales took place during January and February, when Meta shares were mostly trading above $600. As of midday Wednesday, Meta shares (META) were trading around $530, down 11% year-to-date.
The decline in Meta’s share price has helped to drag down Zuckerberg’s net worth by nearly $30 billion since the start of this year, as of Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Even after the sales, Zuckerberg owns more than 342 million shares of Meta, around 13% of the company’s total stock.
The decline in Zuckerberg’s wealth this year is particularly striking considering efforts by him and his company to foster a closer relationship with Trump, presumably in hopes that Trump’s policies and actions would benefit his company’s bottom line. That included donating to and attending the president’s inauguration, as well as a $25 million agreement to settle the lawsuit Trump brought against the company for suspending his account after the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, $22 million of which will help fund a forthcoming Trump presidential library.
Catz sold 3.8 million in Oracle shares worth $705 million in the first quarter, according to The Washington Service. Oracle’s stock (ORCL) was down nearly 19% since the start of this year, as of midday Wednesday.
JPMorgan’s Dimon sold more than 860,000 shares (JPM) worth $233.8 million in the first quarter. Dimon has warned that a recession is a “likely outcome” of Trump’s trade policies.
The top ten insider sellers based on the value of shares sold in the first quarter, according to The Washington Service, were: Zuckerberg, Catz, Palo Alto Networks CEO Arora Nikesh, Nutanix Director Max de Groen, Axis Capital Holdings Director Charles Davis, Palantir President Stephen Cohen, Dimon, Tempus AI CEO Eric Lefkofsky, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Dutch Bros CEO Travis Boersma.
