STEVE SELLS SHARES
DOWN BY THE SEASHORE
Case still holds 30.2 million shares in AOL Time Warner.
In filings made Feb. 6 with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but made public Wednesday (2/14), Case and Miles Gilburne (one of AOL Time Warner's 16 directors) had indicated their plans to sell the shares they acquired after exercising options. The SEC documents show that Case had not sold any shares in the previous three months, but Gilburne had also sold 100,000 shares on Feb. 5 for about $5 million.
The combined sale of 1.2 million shares by both men was valued at $60 million.
"It is typical for AOL executives to sell shares during the company's open windows as part of their long-term personal financial planning," company spokesman Jim Whitney said. "All of our executives continue to have very significant holdings of the company."
Company executives, to avoid illegal insider trading, are permitted to sell stock during "open windows" to avoid the appearance of trading stock with the knowledge of nonpublic information.
In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, AOL stock, which in the past year has ranged from $31.75 to $74.44, was up $1.34 to $49.87.
