February 4, 2016
Speculating About 10b5-1 Plans
Last week’s news that the CEO of Telsa Motors, Elon Musk, had exercised stock options with an estimated value of $100 million spread like wildfire. Picked up by the national news outlets – the news was well covered. It’s not every day that a CEO exercises $100M worth of stock options and pays cash for the taxes (yes, the company confirmed he paid cash for his taxes). This was a cash exercise with no sale involved. As I read several articles on this transaction, I realized there is still much taken for granted when an executive transacts in the company’s stock. I’ll cover highlight some of those areas in today’s blog.
The article that caught my rapid attention was Forbes’ “Elon Musk Exercising Stock Options Could Mean Tesla Will Disappoint Next Week.” Now, before I get too far down this path, I have to say I know nothing about Tesla’s inner-workings and nothing about their earnings. So anything I am saying IS pure speculation. The title of the article got me interested, though. I mean could the exercise of stock options really, single handedly foreshadow less than stellar earnings? If I had to dissect that assumption, my own thoughts went to something far more benign – I mean, what if the CEO had a 10b5-1 plan (after all, these options that were exercised were scheduled to expire in December 2016) that was merely acting on autopilot in an attempt to exercise these stock options before they expire? I have no idea whether Tesla’s CEO has a 10b5-1 plan or not. According to Tesla’s proxy statement, 3 officers do have 10b5-1 plans. And, according to the NASPP’s 2014 Domestic Stock Plan Administration Survey, co-sponsored by Deloitte, of the companies that do allow (but not require) 10b5-1 plans for insiders, 62% of CEOs of those companies were using the plans. Is it possible? Yes, it is. Do we know? No, we do not. That’s not even the point, though.
What does a 10b5-1 plan have to do with things taken for granted? These plans got some negative publicity a couple of years ago when the SEC looked into whether or not the plans, in principle, were being abused. There were some situations where it appeared that 10b5-1 transactions were well-timed around negative news – as in the company may have delayed or accelerated the timing of that news around the planned transactions. Nothing much ever happened from that speculation, and, for the most part, I’d venture to say these plans are not being abused. Rather, this type of plan works fairly well if used as intended, especially in aiding executives and other insiders to put distance between their decision making about their shares and the execution of those transactions. What worries me is that the possibility of a 10b5-1 plan’s existence still often seems to be overlooked when the media casts the spotlight onto these larger, high profile transactions. Not all of it is their fault, though. There is no present requirement for the existence of a 10b5-1 plan to be disclosed. Some companies voluntarily disclose the existence of plans and subsequently footnote their Form 4s noting transactions that occurred pursuant to a trading plan. Without disclosure, the media remains unaware that the executive may be operating under one of these plans. Does disclosure need to happen? The law firm of Morrison and Foerster summarized that consideration in an FAQ on 10b5-1 plans:
Should a Rule 10b5-1 plan be publicly announced?A public announcement by any person of the adoption of a Rule 10b5-1 plan is not required. A company may choose to disclose the existence of certain Rule 10b5-1 plans in order to reduce the negative public perception of insider stock transactions. A company making such disclosure generally will disclose the existence of a plan but not the specific details. Typically, the disclosure will be for executive officers, directors, and 10%shareholders required to file ownership forms under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act (that is, Forms 3, 4,and 5). A company can choose whether to announce the existence of a Rule 10b5-1 plan by a press release followed by a Form 8-K or solely by a Form 8-K. The applicable Form 8-K item is Item 8.01, although Item 7.01 may be used under appropriate circumstances.If a company decides to publicly announce the adoption of a Rule 10b5-1 plan, it is advisable to publicly announce changes to or termination of such plan as well. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC is required to implement a regulation prescribing disclosure by reporting issuers of their hedging policies. The proposed rule, if it becomes final in its current form, may result in more companies disclosing the existence of trading programs of executive officers.