BP chief Tony Hayward sold shares weeks before oil spill

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Telegraph

BP chief Tony Hayward sold shares weeks before oil spill

By Jon Swaine and Robert Winnett
Published: 12:10AM BST 05 Jun 2010


Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.

Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent, which is estimated to be valued at more than £1.2 million.

There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history.

His decision, however, means he avoided losing more than £423,000 when BP’s share price plunged after the oil spill began six weeks ago.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. It just figures..that asshole would be able to save his ass to some extent.

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Only 4 million (pounds) a year. How DOES he scrape by.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Amazing co-incidence.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. why did he do that?

was he anticipating a terrorist attack?

[davidpdx]

5. I'm just waiting for some kind of "Enron" type of information

That he knew a disaster was pending. A public hanging is in order.

[defendandprotect]

6. Coincidentally, that is -- and more than strange . . . !!

When you look at the loss -- while they were allegedly celebrating their

"safety record" -- wouldn't there have perhaps been an equal gain had this

not happened?

Strange, indeed --

[Patchuli]

7. He knew....

and he needs to be held accountable. Prick.

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. Oh FFS

Insiders of a corp have to SCHEDULE sales weeks/months in advance. These sales have to be reported on the 10Q quarterly statement or the company is kicked off the exchanges.

There is PLENTY of reasons to be pissed off at BP and its incompetent CEO. This one just makes the opposition (us) look clueless.

More discussion posted here on this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8489087

[Trillo]

9. Transparency?

Where's the transparency that this was, in fact, a scheduled in advance sale.

[davidinalameda]

10. granted the man is a sleaze

but I don't buy the conspiracy theories in this thread

the story sounds like an OMGism

[CountAllVotes]

11. *phew* ... I smell a big rat!

[TheWebHead]

12. prior knowledge? gimme a break

so he knows the stock is about to drop 35% after a rig explosion and BOP failure, and he sells less than 1/3 of his position. it's nonsense. The stock was trading at a 52 week high in the weeks before the disaster, so selling was logical and was likely a diversification strategy most insiders employ, unless you're an idiot like aubrey mcclendon was with Chesapeake in 2008 - all in and on margin. He's had foot in mouth syndrome and company wide they didn't take safety seriously enough, but if he had any idea this was about to happen they would've taken steps to prevent it rather than becoming America's pinata, crashing their stock, and exposing his 2/3+ remaining position to bankruptcy.

[Doctor_J]

13. Amazing this man isn't in custody

or swinging from a lamp post.

[1Hippiechick]

14. sell high, buy low? n/t

[Zorra]

15. Things that make you go "hmmmm". n/t