technology

Roku CEO Has Sold $270 Million of Stock So Far This Year as the Stock Soars

David Orrell | CNBC
  • Roku CEO Anthony Wood has sold more than $270 million worth of shares in the company so far this year, more in the first six weeks of the year than he sold in all of 2020, according to securities filings. 
  • Roku has been on a tear of late, and the company's Thursday quarterly earnings results beat Wall Street estimates.

Roku CEO Anthony Wood has sold more than $270 million worth of shares in the company so far this year — that's more in the first seven weeks of the year than he sold in all of 2020, according to securities filings. All sales were conducted under a pre-determined trading plan.

Roku has been on fire this past year, with the stock up nearly 270% in the last 12 months and about 40% from the start of the year, and the company reported quarterly earnings results on Thursday that beat Wall Street estimates. The company earned 49 cents per share, compared to a Refinitiv forecast for a loss of 6 cents per share. Roku's revenue came in at $650 million, coming in over an estimate of $615 million. Shares were up 3% in mid-day trading on Friday.

The company, which has benefited as viewers and advertisers move from traditional linear TV to streaming, has a market cap of $57.5 billion, up from $15.2 billion in February 2020 and $5.8 billion in February 2019.

Wood has sold $272,632,403 worth of shares so far in 2021 in four separate transactions, according to securities filings compiled by OpenInsider. In 2020, Wood sold $218,675,340 worth, according to the filings. 

Roku's executives, including Wood, receive compensation that's made up of salary and equity awards. According to a 2020 proxy statement from Roku, Wood elected prior to the end of 2018 that for calendar 2019 he would reduce his annual base salary by $500,000 in exchange for monthly grants of vested stock options. 

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