Selling--Even If They Can’t Name Own Price
This selling appears to be big, really big.
Several Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) investors, including billionaire Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen and money manager George Soros, are unloading shares in the company that lets consumers name a price they’ll pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms and other items.
Priceline.com said Monday that Allen’s Vulcan Ventures had sold 2 million shares and General Atlantic Partners had sold 5 million of its shares. The stock in those transactions was purchased by six institutional investors, including Massachusetts Financial Services Co., Putnam Investments Inc. and Kobrick Capital, said Richard Braddock, Priceline.com’s chairman and chief executive.
Priceline.com shares fell $3 to $54.25 on Nasdaq. The stock soared after it went public last March at $16 per share. The shares, though, have fallen 67% from a high of $165 in late April.
After the sales, General Atlantic owned 20.4 million shares of Priceline.com, and Vulcan Ventures held 7.09 million shares, the company said.
The investors were able to sell their shares after Priceline.com’s underwriters granted them partial release from “lockup agreements” that had barred General Atlantic and Vulcan Ventures from selling stock until Feb. 7. In connection with that release, General Atlantic and Vulcan Ventures agreed to extend until May 8 the lockup period on 85% of their remaining stakes.
Separately, Soros Fund Management, billionaire Soros’ investment advisory business, moved to sell its entire Priceline.com stake.
Its Quantum Industrial Partners unit, which invests in private placements, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell almost 1.13 million Priceline.com shares, which are worth about $61 million at current prices. Those shares represent all the Priceline.com holdings reported by Soros Fund Management as of Sept. 30. In addition, SFM Domestic Investments, a limited liability company affiliated with Soros Fund Management, disclosed plans to sell 125,000 Priceline.com shares, which are worth $6.8 million.
