ARMONK, N.Y. -- International Business Machines Corp. Chairman
Louis V. Gerstner Jr. sold 138,000 shares last week, two days after giving
analysts a bullish report that sent IBM stock to new highs.
IBM said Mr. Gerstner exercised 150,000 stock options at a price of
$23.94 each on Friday, and sold 138,000 of those shares at $125.125
each the same day. Mr. Gerstner made a profit of $13.96 million on the
transactions.
It was the first time since he joined the
computer company in 1993 that Mr. Gerstner
has sold IBM shares on the open market. An
IBM spokesman said Mr. Gerstner, 56 years
old, sold the shares as part of a tax planning
and asset diversification program. There was
no connection between Mr. Gerstner's speech
and the timing of his sale, the spokesman said.
The shares that Mr. Gerstner sold represent a
little more than 3% of his total IBM holdings. Mr. Gerstner has options on
about 4.1 million IBM shares along with 153,000 restricted shares. He
also has been an active buyer of IBM shares on the open market, having
acquired 306,422 shares since he first came to the company.
Last Wednesday, Mr. Gerstner told industry analysts that IBM is
confident it can deliver double-digit percentage sales growth in a few
years, in constant-currency terms. Those remarks helped boost IBM
stock by 4.4% over Thursday and Friday. In New York Stock Exchange
composite trading Tuesday, IBM shares closed up 37.5 cents at $125. |
