Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Sells Stock for the First Time in Years

He sold 100,000 Uber shares over June 26 and 28 for a total of $4.5 million, an average price of $45 each. The transactions were made through a so-called Rule 10b5-1 plan, which executes trades automatically when certain preset conditions are met. Trading plans are meant to eliminate any possibility that a company insider might be able to benefit from knowledge of nonpublic information.

Uber didn’t respond to a request to make Khosrowshahi available for comment.

It isn’t clear when Khosrowshahi adopted the plan that executed the trades, only that the trades were made through an “existing” plan. The fact that Khosrowshahi is selling stock doesn’t necessarily mean that he thinks shares have topped out. He may have set up his trading plan so as to unload stock at a price that would represent enough of a gain that sales by the CEO wouldn’t alarm existing shareholders.

Also consider that his most recent previous transaction in Uber stock was a purchase. In May 2022, Khosrowshahi paid $5.3 million for 200,000 shares, an average price of $26.73 each. The SEC filing that disclosed the purchases didn’t indicate that it was made through a trading plan.

The last time he sold Uber stock was in January 2021, when Khosrowshahi sold 200,000 shares for $11 million, an average price of $54.44 each. Those sales were planned trades.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.