The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Netscape founder pays off MASSIVE tax bill with Facebook shares

Marc Andreessen offloads $54.1m worth of stock

Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

Marc Andreessen - a Facebook insider who serves on the company's board - held true to his promise on Monday by selling stock worth $54.1m in the recently floated free-content ad network to pay off tax obligations.

To do that, the Netscape founder needed to offload roughly 2.3 million Facebook shares. Andreessen had agreed in September this year not to sell any personal shares in the company, aside from those needed to cover taxes on his holdings.

Facebook's copper-haired chief Mark Zuckerberg also said at the time that he wouldn't sell any personal stock for 12 months.

Andreessen's big tax bill came into effect because of the recent vesting or settlement of restricted stock units in the company. Meanwhile, Washington Post Company chairman Donald Graham - who is another prominent director at Facebook - also racked up a big tax bill for the same reason. Graham sold shares in the website worth around $6.7m to pay the taxman - as noted in this regulatory filing.

Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg offloaded yet more shares - this time selling $4.2m worth of stock. ®

Ensure Ease of Recovery with Asigra’s Agentless Software

free-content ad network?

content-free ad network

FTFY

5
1

Re: Tax Bills

You can bet they've already looked at it and found the tax levy to be watertight, especially if it's applicable at the point of liquidation of those assets, and those assests can be proven to have - and gained in - personal value.

They'll pay, but will now be looking at every trick in the book to punt their remaining assests offshore before they need to liquidate them into cash.

2
0

Multi-million dollar tax bill

... A nice problem to have.

Tramp, because in comparison, that's what I am.

2
0

More from The Register

Thanks, NSA: Amazon sales of Orwell's 1984 rise 9,500%
Citizens of Oceania bone up on the new reality
 breaking news
BBC lied to Parliament about doomed £100m IT monster, thunder MPs
Axed DMI ballooned and burst while watchdogs sang Kumbaya
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
 breaking news
Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59
Misses the release of his final work
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
It's official: 'tweet' an English word – not just in the avian sense
If the Oxford English Dictionary says it is so, then it is so
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news