Apple executives are accused of "speculating" to sell shares, with COO Jeff Williams selling $30 million of shares

Beijing, March 28 (Xinhua) Apple Chief operating Officer (COO) Jeff Williams (Jeff Williams) sold $3000 worth of Apple shares last week (currently about 206 million yuan). One expert believes that Williams selling shares at this time is "speculative" behavior.

▲ Williams sold 187730 Apple shares at an average price of $159.76 on March 22, according to regulatory filings released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday. His stock sale was carried out under the 10b5-1 trading plan, which allows executives and other company insiders to arrange the sale of shares at a specific time and pricing. Williams' plan was adopted on November 29, 2021 and revised on February 16, 2023.

Ben Silverman, director of research at VerityData, a financial research firm, wrote in a note to clients that Williams's sell-off deviated from his usual practice of not selling immediately after the stock was vested, but waiting for the share price to rise. Mr Silverman said in the report that Williams acquired the shares in October last year but did not sell them immediately. "the stock was below the minimum selling price threshold set by Williams at the time, and his revision of the 10b5-1 plan in February this year either lowered that threshold or set the trigger price. This is a behavioral change, an opportunistic change."

Williams still holds 489816 Apple shares, worth nearly $80 million at current price levels (currently about 550 million yuan). So far, apple's share price has risen about 22% in 2023, the same annual increase as it closed on march 21, the last full trading day before Williams began selling the stock.