14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter's co-founder Ev Williams has announced he will be selling up to 30% of his stock in the company due to personal reasons. Despite a slight dip on the stock market, it seems investors aren't too worried about the situation.
Williams, who once played the role of Twitter CEO, is the company's largest individual shareholder. On Thursday, he announced that he plans to sell a minority of his TWTR stock over the next year. He was careful to say that the sale was for "personal" reasons. Even if he didn't go into too many details, this was an important detail because it didn't signal to investors that he believed there might be something wrong with the company or its evolution. That's not to say that Twitter isn't having some issues, especially since its stock price is now 15 lower than it was three months ago.
In a blog post, Williams explains his decision some more. He wrote that he spent a lot of money investing through his venture fund named Obvious Ventures, while also donating lots of cash to charity and political campaigns. "I'd like to continue," he adds, admitting that he's pretty much selling a part of his Twitter stock so he can invest in Obvious Ventures and donate to other projects he is passionate about.
The sale has started
This week, Williams sold about $4 million worth of stock, an SEC filing reveals. He's also set up a trading plan, so he'll be selling off his stock at predetermined dates from here on out so there aren't any concerns over insider trading and to not create additional waves of concern among investors.
Williams plans to keep his position on Twitter's board and to remain with the company. "Ev, a co-founder of Twitter and member of the Board since 2007, has been a champion of Twitter since Day 1 and intends to maintain a significant ownership position in the company," a statement reads.