Facebook Founders Sold Shares

Some of the most notable newcomers to this year’s 2011 World’s Billionaires list are three of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook co-founders.

By now millions know these folks, or at least a fictionalized version of them, from having watched “The Social Network” movie. They include not just Zuckerberg, but co-founder and former buddie Eduardo Saverin; co-founder and former roommate Dustin Moskovitz (who barely has a role in the film version), and the social networking firm’s first president Sean Parker. Saverin, who stayed behind when Zuckerberg and Moskovitz first went to California, originally had a 30% stake in the site.

Facebook sued him for allegedly interfering with the business and insisting on keeping that stake; Saverin countersued. The parties settled; Saverin apparently got a 5% stake and a cofounder bio on Facebook’s site. Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, who had a smaller stake than the rest, was the only one who did not make the list of 400 Richest Americans in the fall but now he qualifies.

That’s because Facebook’s valuation has more than doubled since Spring 2010, based on a $1.5 billion injection brokered by Goldman Sachs that valued the still privately held social network at $50 billion. Zuckerberg’s fortune surged 238% since last year to $13.5 billion, and his Facebook cofounders easily secured spots on the Billionaires list. But their net worths are lower than we first expected. After weeks of digging, we finally got a well-placed source to confirm their exact shareholdings in Facebook. Turns out all four of them have been selling shares.

* Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly sold about 5%, apparently having done so last fall from what we hear. He still owns 25%.
* Dustin Moskovitz, who used to have 6%, now has 5%, again having apparently cash out a chunk last fall.
* Eduardo Saverin has been reducing his stake since 2009, and now has around 2%, which makes sense given how things ended between him and Zuckerberg.
* Sean Parker, who once had 4%, now has just under 3%.

Who can really blame these young entrepreneurs for selling? With these sky-high valuations, it probably isn’t such a bad idea for these young guys to take some money off the table.

None of the four would answer us directly when we asked for comment. (Actually Saverin wouldn’t answer us about anything). Perhaps they don’t want it getting out that they have sold. It will all be disclosed soon enough when the firm is required to file its S-1 before their imminent IPO. In the meantime we’ll keep our ears open.
(Source: http://blogs.forbes.com/luisakroll/2011/03/09/facebook-founders-sold-shares/)