Outgoing Warner Music exec Max Lousada has now sold north of $26 million in company stock ahead of his September 30th departure. Photo Credit: Giorgio Trovato
Outgoing Warner Music Group recorded music CEO Max Lousada has shed even more shares ahead of his planned September 30th exit.
This latest payday emerged in a newly submitted regulatory filing, after Lousada in an early September Form 144 highlighted plans to sell 934,467 shares overall. As we noted, the form pertains to the anticipated sale of restricted and control securities – here, performance stock units fetching a cumulative $26.4 million or so, according to the disclosure.
Consequently, besides acknowledging Lousada’s WMG stock sales last week, we reiterated that additional selloffs were in the cards. Just to recap, at the time of our prior coverage, Lousada had confirmed cashing out of 64,047 shares on the 3rd (generating $1.81 million in the process), 48,134 shares on the 4th ($1.36 million), 135,324 shares on the 5th ($3.81 million), 7,359 shares on the 6th ($207,818), and 428,834 shares on the 10th ($12.01 million).
In other words, it must be nice being Lousada, who made around $19.19 million from the latter stock sales.
Not stopping there, though, the longtime Warner Music higher-up subsequently finalized another sale yet: 250,769 shares at an average of $28.09 a pop on the 11th.
That comes out to $7.04 million and represents the final sale under the mentioned 934,467-share Form 144. Nevertheless, Lousada still owned 2.04 million shares after selling on the 11th, the document shows, including restricted units as well as 1.74 million “vested deferred equity units.”
As laid out in the same filing, the units would be settled “on a one-for-one basis by no later than December 31, 2025,” or well after Lousada’s quick-approaching departure.
Letting Investopedia take the wheel for a moment, this seemingly means Lousada will be unable to access the deferred units/shares despite their vested status.
While “restricted stocks are immediately converted to unrestricted shares once the [vesting] period has ended,” per Investopedia, “deferred shares do not convert until a selected date beyond the vesting date.” And ceasing to be part of the company before the overarching vesting period’s conclusion will see one “forfeit all rights to the shares in question.”
Lousada’s imminent WMG exit arrived as part of a significant recorded music shakeup at the major label, from which Julie Greenwald is also poised to depart. Thus far, Greenwald hasn’t disclosed trades of her own.
But insiders at different companies are enjoying massive stock-sale windfalls as well; Spotify board member and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos sold over $6 million in the former business’s shares closer to September’s beginning.
