Several executives sold billions of dollars' worth of shares ahead of President Donald Trump's tariff announcement, which sent markets into a tailspin.
Zuckerberg sold 1.1 million shares worth $733 million in the first quarter through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and its affiliated foundation, according to an analysis by the Washington Service, which tracks insider buying and selling. All the sales occurred in January and February, when Meta's stock was still trading above $600, peaking at over $736 on Valentine's Day. Since then, the company's stock has fallen 32% amid the broader market selloff.
Catz, Oracle's CEO, was also among the biggest sellers. She sold 3.8 million shares worth $705 million before the tech giant's shares fell more than 30%. The proceeds from the sale, along with her remaining stake and investment portfolio, gave her a fortune of $2.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is assessing her wealth for the first time.
Dimon, the CEO of the largest U.S. bank, sold about $234 million worth of shares during the first quarter. His fortune is estimated at $3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Wealth Index.
The first quarter saw significant market volatility. While tech stocks enjoyed strong gains at the start of the Trump presidency, uncertainty surrounding tariffs ahead of April 2, known as "Deregistration Day," contributed to a massive selloff that wiped out trillions of dollars in global markets.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has seen his fortune slashed by $129 billion since the beginning of the year, as tech stocks came under pressure from concerns about the tariffs' impact on everything from phones to semiconductors.
Some major shareholders are taking advantage of this downturn to buy back shares at lower prices and increase their stakes.
Overall, executive selling activity decreased compared to the first quarter of 2024, when 4,702 individuals sold shares worth $28.1 billion, compared to 3,867 sellers in the first quarter of this year, totaling $15.5 billion, according to the Washington Service.
The majority of last year's selling came from Jeff Bezos, who divested Amazon shares worth more than $8.5 billion in February. The figures for the first quarter of this year were more evenly distributed, with 10 individuals selling shares worth more than $3.8 billion.
Top sellers during the first three months of the year, according to the Washington Service:
1. Mark Zuckerberg
Title: Chairman and CEO, Meta Platforms
Total shares sold: 1,102,945 million shares
Total value: $733,483,827 million
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and its affiliated foundation sold shares regularly during January and February, all at prices above $600 per share, under a 10b5-1 trading plan (the right to sell shares despite insider access) the billionaire approved in August.
These sales raised $733 million. Zuckerberg's net worth hit its lowest level this year on Thursday at $178 billion, down from $259 billion on February 14. He remains the third-richest person in the world after Musk and Bezos. A spokesperson for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative did not respond to a request for comment.
2. Safra Catz
Title: Chief Executive Officer, Oracle
Total shares sold: 3,805,082 million shares
Total value: $705,455,414 million
Catz typically sells shares near the expiration of her options, and she continued this pattern in early 2025, according to disclosures. Under her 10b5-1 trading plan, the Oracle CEO exercised 3.8 million stock options worth $705 million in January, when the stock was trading above $180. Since then, the stock has fallen more than 30%. Given her pattern of sales, Catz holds a relatively small stake in Oracle compared to her overall wealth. Oracle did not respond to a request for comment regarding her net worth.
3. Nikesh Arora
Position: Chairman and CEO, Palo Alto Networks
Total shares sold: 2,365,196 million shares
Total value: $432,371,610 million
The billionaire and former SoftBank executive exercised and sold Palo Alto Networks stock options at the beginning of each month under the 10b5-1 plan he approved in March 2024. The sales continued in April, bringing the total value sold this year to over $565 million, with an execution cost of over $100 million.
4. Max de Gruen
Position: Board Member, Nutanix
Total shares sold: 5,500,000 million shares
Total value: $409,805,000 million
The Bain Capital partner sits on the board of directors of the cloud computing company Nutanix. Last summer, Bain converted a bond, acquiring 16.9 million shares. De Groen stated at the time that the company had no plans to sell. Eight months later, Bain sold about a third of its stake, and the sale was registered in De Groen's name. Between the July bond conversion and the March 4 share sale, Nutanix's stock rose more than 56%. Since the sale, the stock has fallen 20%. The company declined to comment.
5. Chuck Davis
Position: Member of the Board of Directors, Axis Capital Holdings
Total shares sold: 4,373,673 million shares
Total value: $399,999,882 million
The co-president of Stone Point Capital serves on the board of Axis, a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance company. In February and March, Axis approved two share buybacks of $200 million each through an investment vehicle managed by Stone Point.
6. Steven Cohen
Position: Chairman of Palantir Technologies
Total shares sold: 4,060,000 million shares
Total value: $337,239,916 million
Palantir executives sold more than $4 billion worth of shares last year, and the trend has continued into 2025. Cohen sold more than $337 million worth of shares in the first quarter under a 10b5-1 plan. The company's stock has experienced extreme volatility, nearly doubling from mid-January to mid-February, and remains up 24% year-to-date, driven by investor interest in the defense industry. Cohen is currently worth approximately $3.3 billion, mostly from stock options at the Denver-based company.
7. Jamie Dimon
Title: Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase
Total shares sold: 866,361 million shares
Total value: $233,776,513 million
Dimon sold more than $233 million worth of shares on February 20, two days after the bank's stock hit its 2025 high. This was his first sale in about a year, but he continued selling in the second quarter. On April 14, he sold an additional 133,639 shares for $31.5 million, bringing his total sales for the year to more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
8. Eric Lefkowski
Title: Chairman and CEO, Tempus AI
Total shares sold: 4,052,579 million shares
Total value: $231,462,927 million
The Groupon co-founder took his Google-backed health company public in June, and since then, its shares have risen more than 9%. A spokesperson for the Chicago-based company said some of Lefkowski's sales were made to cover IPO expenses. The spokesperson said the CEO has a 10b5-1 plan to sell 1% of his shares each quarter.
9. Ted Sarandos
Title: Co-CEO, Netflix
Total shares sold: 199,063 million shares
Total value: $194,880,917 million
Sarandos adopted a new 10b5-1 trading plan in October to sell 199,063 shares before February 2026. He sold these shares on January 30, generating approximately $173 million after spending $21 million to exercise options that expire between 2026 and 2032. A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment.
10. Travis Boersma
Position: Co-founder and Chairman of the Board, Dutch Bros.
Total shares sold: 2,500,000 shares
Total value: $189,611,197 million
Boersma, the co-founder of the Dutch Bros. coffee chain, sold 2.5 million shares worth approximately $190 million over five days in February. The shares were owned by trusts controlled by Boersma, who founded the Oregon-based company with his late brother in 1992. He became a billionaire in 2021 after the company went public.
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