April 21, according to media reports, before U.S. President Donald Trump announced the tariff policy, many corporate executives including Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, sold company stocks worth billions of dollars.

According to analysis by Washington-based service company tracking insider stock transactions, Zuckerberg sold 1.1 million shares of Meta through his charitable organization "Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)" and its related foundations in the first quarter, cashing out $733 million. All stock transactions took place in January and February this year when Meta's stock price was still above $600. Since then, with the plunge of the stock market triggered by Trump's tariff measures, Meta's stock price has fallen by 32% cumulatively.

These transactions were carried out under a 10b5-1 trading plan established by Zuckerberg last August. As of last Thursday, Zuckerberg's net worth had dropped to its lowest point this year at $178 billion, a significant decrease from the high point of $259 billion on February 14. However, he remains the third richest person in the world, trailing only Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

On April 16, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Zuckerberg $30 billion, accusing him of maintaining a monopoly in the social media market through acquisitions such as Instagram and WhatsApp. Some opinions suggest that the antitrust investigation may be intertwined with personal grievances between Trump and Zuckerberg.

The cause can be traced back to 2021, when supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol, and Facebook (now Meta) banned Trump's account on the grounds of "inciting violence." Trump publicly criticized the ban as "political censorship" and threatened to make Zuckerberg pay the price. Afterwards, Zuckerberg tried to ease relations by donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration ceremony and visiting the White House multiple times.

The executives who sold stocks also include Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, who similarly sold 3.8 million shares of the company before the stock price fell more than 30%, totaling approximately $705 million (about RMB 5.144 billion). Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, also sold about $234 million (approximately RMB 1.707 billion) worth of stocks in the first quarter.

In the first quarter of this year, global markets experienced intense volatility. The uncertainty of Trump's tariff policies triggered massive market selling, causing trillions of dollars in global market value to evaporate. Since Trump announced the new tariff policy in early April, the S&P 500 index, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq all plummeted, with US stocks briefly entering a bear market.

The wealth of the world's richest man, Musk, was also affected by the tariff policy. It is reported that due to the heavy blow to technology industry stocks, Musk's wealth decreased by $129 billion (approximately RMB 941.31 billion at current exchange rates) this year.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7495602177864385060/

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