Lordstown executives sold millions of dollars in stock before problems became public
[ad_1]
In one instance, John Vo, who oversees Lordstown’s propulsion division, sold 99.3% of his vested shares, netting himself more than $2.5 million. Lordstown’s president, Rich Schmidt, sold 39% of his vested shares and made $4.6 million, according to filings. Other executives sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock, too.
The company said in a statement that the executives’ “transactions were made for reasons unrelated to the performance of the company or viability of the Endurance, and each such director and executive retained substantial Lordstown Motors equity holdings in the form of shares and options following the sales and transfers described in the company’s public filings.”
But the timing of the sales — a month before the company’s earnings report — is unusual. Many companies prevent executives from selling stock for a stretch leading up to their financial disclosures.
Lordstown’s stock tumbled below $9 in May. Shares fell 4% to $10.20 Monday.
The controversial stock sales are the latest blemish for the company, which is named after the former General Motors factory in Ohio that it took over after the legacy automaker sold it.
Last week, Lordstown said that it has no firm orders for its vehicles, backtracking on assurances it made earlier this week that the company had enough committed buyers for its pickup truck to keep production going through 2022.
[ad_2]
Source link
