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- cross-posted to:
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Archive.org mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20230914133443/https://www.eurogamer.net/unity-bosses-sold-stock-days-before-development-fees-announcement-raising-eyebrows
This shit can’t be legal. Do we have any lawyers on here?
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These stories are so dumb/intentionally misleading/outrage bait.
Executives have predefined stock sale schedules at regular intervals. This allows them to convert their equity to cash and avoid conflicts of interest. That is, it’s hard to gain an advantage over the market when you sell exactly the same amount every month for the next 4 years.
Where was everyone’s outrage the other 99% of times this guy sold exactly the same amount of stock?
In the USA that would most likely fit the textbook definition of Insider Trading, which is bigly illegal
I don’t think it’s that black and white, since he apparently has sold stock steadily through out the year (and hasn’t bought any at all).
I think that makes it worse. It’s obvious that he was doing that with this change in mind. Especially if he didn’t buy any over that period.
I am not a lawyer but I’ve worked with stock as part of my compensation for years.
Typically you have to schedule your sales on a schedule. Say every 6 months I’ll sell on x date.
Unless legal tells me to change it. It buys or sells on that date. Period. I can’t adjust it on a whim.
If he’s following a schedule then there would be no violation.
If he sold ad hoc, it could be a violation.
Could he have timed the announcement around his sales, or would that be something that legal would have to have ensured wasn’t happening?
If this was ongoing and regular for years then yeah it’s nothing. If there are protections in place to ensure announcements aren’t timed around the schedule then that’s even more nothing (as long as it can be proven that procedure was followed).
It still seems like a system that can easily be manipulated, but yeah if it’s legal then it’s legal and there really can’t be any punishment regardless of ethics or optics…
Certain types of scheduled announcements usually have insider trading blackouts associated with them automatically, like quarterly earnings reports.
But you ABSOLUTELY can time other announcements favourably around your predefined transactions.
Damn that’s a good question. I honestly don’t have an answer. I’m not high enough level to that type of validation. Basically I have enough knowledge to insider trade but not enough to influence a decision such as changes in pricing or when something will launch.
I have windows in much I can sell and have to schedule my sales in those windows six months in advance.
It’s really stupid since I’m trading small dollar amount. 20k a year give or take but the company I work for takes it seriously.
Depends on how far ahead he planned the sale. It does sound like he’s getting ready to deploy a golden parachute while the company burns. Clean out his own stock while the price is still high enough and then say, “well shucks, who’d have thought that developers would leave in droves when we instituted micro-transactions for using our engine?” And walk on to overseeing his next disaster.
Seems like it’s planned enshitification. Use lower costs and even free for individuals to get market share, then crank up the price once you have a large audience. It’ll be interesting to see if and where indie developers jump to.
Not to mention he was also the EA CEO before…
Aren’t there laws against this sort of thing? I think that’s significant fraud and he should go to prison
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