Glenn - the feeling's mutual. Thanks for the clarification on the $1.2 billion figure.
One last thing I'll mention - and this relates to Andreessen's sale: it appears as though Andreessen may have sold a large portion of the AOL shares he owned. This is pure speculation on my part. The Reuters article on the planned sale actually stated "Andreessen still retains a sizeable stake in AOL". But if you look at the insider statistics on Yahoo's finance site, as of Mar 17, 1999, Andreessen owned 661,601 shares (I assume this number is for post-Feb 23 split shares). He probably recently exercised some options to bring that number up to the 940,680 that he plans to sell. He most likely has options for many more AOL shares - but since the Netscape/AOL merger was not finalized until March (I believe), it is likely that many of his options have not yet vested. Since Stephen Case is listed as owning 4.2 million shares, I would find it hard to believe that Andreessen owns many more actual shares than the 940,000 he plans to sell (again he probably has options for more). But even if 940,000 represents only half the AOL shares Andreessen owns, I would view the sale as "significant". What could it mean? I see three possible explanations:
1. Andreessen has lost confidence in AOL's stock.
2. Andreessen is planning on leaving AOL and wanted to sell his shares before releasing the news of his departure.
3. Andreessen is just diversifying his assets in the midst of a volatile market.
Since I'm inclined to believe that 940,000 represents 50% or more of Andreessen's holdings, I would be more likely to believe in explanations 1 or 2 above (rather than 3). But I'm making some assumptions on Andreessen's holdings in stating this.
Thanks,
-Eric |
