General Motors executive vice president of product development Mark Reuss made $2.5 million in a single day last week.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Reuss sold 75,000 shares of GM shares on May 3rd, 2017 at an average price of $33.35. The sale netted the engineer-turned-executive a grand total of $2,501,250.
The GM Authority Take
Though it took Reuss a life-long career at GM to be able to attain that many shares, we’re sure making $2.5 million in a single day ain’t so bad. That said, it would have been more if investors had GM’s share price been higher, an ongoing problem that GM CEO Mary Barra and President Dan Ammann have been working to resolve for years.
Comments
“He should donate that money to charity. I know I wouldn’t accept it and use the money to buy a third beach front property.”.
-Bernie Sanders
Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
Does he know something that others don’t? He’s dumping his stock. That’s not a good sign at all. SELL!
Nothing unusual about exercising options you’ve been granted – there’s usually a time frame or some other restriction involved.
Good that he made $2.5, and no doubt there’s more where that came from.
For the retail investor, though -unless you were prescient enough to buy in the early, post-IPO dip (around $19/$20 per share), GM stock has traded in a range more reminiscent of a muni bond fund instead of a growth (or even value) stock. Except muni dividends are paid monthly, and are usually fed and state tax-free.
Meanwhile, the management behind the sideways GM stock chart can exercise options based on artificially-depressed prices. Of course they’d make more $$ if GM was at 40 or 50 when they sell (a portion) of their holdings.
But Reuss and Amman and Barra do just fine, regardless of the market’s response to GM, or lack thereof. Yeah, it pays dividends, but GM stock in a good buy/sell for insiders; and other than the hedge fund guys Rattner got involved (who made $5B, instead of the $8B and a board seat or two they were lobbying for).
Mgt has no do-or-die incentive for the stock to do as well as much of the market has done – buy @ 17 (oftentimes with a loan) them exercise at doubt the price. Stock stagnation doesn’t hurt them.
Meanwhile. retail investors have better options available.
This is his performance based pay. This is why most top auto executives try hard to improve stock prices as the company, investors and leaders are rewarded.
It is better than paying millions for companies going broke like we saw in the last.