Mark Zuckerberg sold nearly half a billion dollars worth of Meta shares in two months
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly sold nearly half a billion dollars worth of Meta stock in two months, according to Bloomberg . The sales, totaling 1.28 million shares worth $428 million, occurred between November and December 2023, marking Zuckerberg’s first sale in two years.
The average transaction was $10.4 million, with the largest sale taking place on December 28 for $17.1 million. The move follows a remarkable 194% surge in Meta’s share price over the past year, rebounding from a seven-year low at the end of 2022.
Zuckerberg, 39, owns about 13% of Meta and has a net worth of about $125 billion, making him the seventh-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Meta did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment on Zuckerberg's recent stock sales.
In a related development, Reuters reported that oil trade between China and Iran has "stalled" as Tehran withholds shipments and demands higher prices from its main customers, reducing the supply of cheap oil to the world's largest importer of crude oil.
The drop in Iranian oil supplies, which account for about 10 percent of China’s crude imports, could help support global oil prices. China’s imports of sanctioned Iranian oil hit a decade-high in October, but have now stopped due to Tehran’s pricing demands.
Iran has increased its oil exports over the past year, boosting its geopolitical role, according to Bloomberg.
Title: China-Iran oil trade halts, hitting global oil prices as Chinese imports hit decade high
Oil trade between China and Iran has ground to a halt, trade sources told Reuters, as Tehran blocks shipments and negotiates higher prices with its biggest customer. The disruption to cheap Iranian crude, which accounts for about 10 percent of China’s crude imports, could help push up global oil prices.
China’s imports of Iranian oil under sanctions hit a decade-high in October, driven by the attractiveness of low-cost crude amid higher global prices, according to analysis by data firm Kpler. Most of the shipments are headed to China, which is lenient in screening imports of bitumen blends, sometimes mixed with Iranian crude, helping to clear shipments quickly through customs, market traders said.
Beijing's imports from Iran averaged 917,000 barrels per day (bpd) during the first seven months of 2023. That figure rose to 1.5 million bpd in August, the highest level since 2013, according to Kepler data.