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Grubhub CEO sells stock before making damaging statements

13 points by Skywing ↗ HN
The optics of this stock sell off seem a bit odd given the relative time to him making statements that have reduced the value of said stock.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1556458/000120919116148881/xslF345X01/doc4.xml

Couldn't he just buy them back at lower value?

13 comments

[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 35.7 ms ] thread
laughfactory
Oh, wow, this sounds super illegal. Particularly if he re-buys at a lower price.
inimino
Whatever you're reaching for here, it's quite a reach.

He sent an internal email about politics and it backfired. It's not like he gave a press conference announcing the company was in financial trouble.

Skywing
It was the day before. Your point about it being an email is exactly my point this could be taken as him knowing something that nobody else did and thus selling his shares. Just looks odd
inimino
In this the "something else" would be knowing that the CEO is about to send a stupid email the next day?

If he anticipated it would leak and tank the stock wouldn't he have more likely just run it by some folks and sent something less poorly worded?

Skywing
Right, yea, the something else would have been knowing that in the event of a Trump victory he'd send out this email which could likely hurt the company (it'd naturally get leaked). Obviously it's a bit of a stretch, because why would he intentionally hurt his own company? I just thought it was a bit odd-looking.

Another user in this thread pointed out that this seems to be a monthly thing the CEO does, so this no longer appears as strange.

radamanthus
The transaction was before the elections. Looks perfectly normal to me.
Expialadochus
Are you living in a world where people are incapable of preplanning their actions in order to intentionally cause a downward correction in the stock, so that they can later sell it for a higher price and make money this way? Talk to the SEC and see if they agree with you :P
dvdhnt
Sweet another CEO being emotionally reactive.
askafriend
He sells ~11,000 shares every month and has been doing so for a while from what I understand. A former employee posted something to this tune, though I forget where I read it.
Expialadochus
Let him sell the damn stock... He thinks he's selling off of a 52 week high. What you can do is go to your bank and get an online trading account. Make sure the bank will allow you to short NYSE:GRUB before you sign on. Then, buy PUT OPTIONS thru Jan 2018... nearer term puts are safer, but Matt Maloney deserves a whole years worth of headaches for this... Got any really rich republican friends? Tell them all about this strategy!
[dead] Expialadochus
Let him sell the damn stock... He thinks he's selling off of a 52 week high. What you can do is go to your bank and get an online trading account. Make sure the bank will allow you to short NYSE:GRUB before you sign on. Then, buy PUT OPTIONS thru Jan 2018... nearer term puts are safer, but Matt Maloney deserves a whole years worth of headaches for this... Got any really rich republican friends? Tell them all about this strategy!