Former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg cashes in £5.5 million worth of Meta shares
- Sir Nick Clegg has scooped £5.5million by selling shares in Meta
- Meta has cut about 21,000 jobs in the last year amid high inflation
Sir Nick Clegg has scooped £5.5million by selling shares in Meta, the US giant where he has a top job, according to official documents.
The former deputy prime minister sold millions of shares in the company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, where he earns more than £2.8million a year as president of global affairs.
Sir Nick joined in 2018 after leading the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015 and being in David Cameron’s coalition government from 2010 to 2015.
He sold £710,300 worth of shares in February, £870,000 in May and £2.4million in August.
Then last month, the 56-year-old cashed in another £1.9million worth, papers at the US Securities and Exchange Commission show.
His boss and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sold shares worth more £150million in November.
Meta has cut about 21,000 jobs in the last year to reassure investors amid high inflation.
Sir Nick Clegg has scooped £5.5million by selling shares in Meta, the US giant where he has a top job, according to official documents
An aerial view of Meta (Facebook) headquarters in Menlo Park, California
Zuckerberg had previously warned staff that 2023 will be a ‘year of efficiency’
The firm enjoyed soaring net income in the third quarter of this year, with figures jumping 164 per cent to £9.3billion, as it racked up record sales.
Zuckerberg had previously warned staff that 2023 will be a ‘year of efficiency’ and this ethos has been drilled into them at team meetings and in performance reviews.
It came after Meta suffered three straight periods in which revenue declined but it saw first-quarter sales for 2023 rise three per cent to $28.6billion compared to the same period in 2022.
The company’s stock price has seen huge growth since the start of the year and has grown by an incredible 96.8 per cent to $245.48 per share as of May 24.
It continued to rise as news of the latest round of cuts was revealed.
Sir Nick joined Meta in 2018 after leading the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015 and being in David Cameron’s coalition government from 2010 to 2015
Sir Nick participated in the UK Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit in November 2023
Tech firms have struggled to rein in costs, as economic uncertainty has slowed sales growth
Amid the sweeping cuts, one part of the business has enjoyed an increased to its budgets – Zuckerberg’s hefty private security bill.
READ MORE – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly shut down calls from execs to improve teen safety on Facebook and Instagram and to shut down ‘beauty filters,’ court documents claim
The 38-year-old, whose net worth is estimated to be $68.4 billion, received a 40 percent rise in his pre-tax security allowance from $10 million to $14 million. The hike was signed off by Meta’s board of directors.
That will cover just under half of his roughly $25 million annual security bill, according to reports.
A ‘tech wreck’ has been sweeping Silicon Valley this year with almost 200,00 jobs paying a combined $12 billion annually wiped out so far.
This has already surpassed the 165,000 jobs cut for the whole of 2022, according to analysis from Layoffs.fyi, which tracks firings in real time through information gleaned in media and company releases.
Tech firms have struggled to rein in costs, as economic uncertainty has slowed sales growth over the past year.
Amazon has laid off 27,000 employees this year, Twitter laid off around 3,900 employees, half its workforce, following Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover and Microsoft announced in January it would be cutting 10,000 jobs.
The layoffs are part of ways for tech companies to cut costs with some cutting back on freebies and employees perks.
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