Company founders and executives are hearing the jingle of cold hard cash this holiday season.
Profiting from a historic run up in share prices, US corporate insiders sold a record $69bn in shares this year, up 30 per cent from 2020, and 79 per cent more than the 10-year average. Almost 50 of these corporate bigwigs have pocketed more than $200m each.
They are certainly in the money, but are they also in the know? Some of them say they are diversifying their holdings; others are seeking to avoid rising state tax levies or fear that US tax rates will increase next year. Such insider selling is also a red flag at a time when soaring indices mask the fact that more than 1,380 companies are trading at or near 12-month lows.