American pharmaceutical company Moderna CEO Stephen Bansel, which develops a COVID-19 vaccine, made huge profits by selling $400 million worth of stock during the coronavirus pandemic. / Photo = Reuters During the coronavirus pandemic, he sold $408 million worth of stocks and made huge profits.
On the 17th, CNBC in the United States said that Bangsel CEO had sold about 2.8 million shares and $408 million worth of stock since January 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began, and sold about 19,000 shares per week on average, at an average of $3.6 million. explained that it soared more than 600%.
It is said that the CEO of Bangsel liquidated stock options by selling a predetermined number of shares at regular intervals according to a pre-announced plan. This approach eliminates the need for executive insider stock ownership reports to be reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CNBC reported.
Other Moderna executives also sat on money cushions last year with stock options. Modernas president, Stephen Hodge, has cashed out $165.9 million in stock options alone, and Juan Andres, chief technology officer, $194.3 million in cash.
Moderna has emerged as a global company by rapidly developing vaccines after the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency approval for the Moderna vaccine in December 2020. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Moderna vaccine is the second most used vaccine in the United States after Pfizer, with over 209 million doses.
During the pandemic, Modernas stock price also rose sharply. It has surged 614% since January 23, 2020, when it first announced that it had received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop a coronavirus vaccine. In August of last year, it rose to a high of $497.49, and is currently trading at $160 as of the 17th.
Meanwhile, Moderna expects COVID-19 vaccine sales to reach at least $19 billion this year. Last year, it delivered 870 million vaccines worldwide, generating sales of $18.5 billion.
