Peter Thiel Cashed $1 Billion Out of Facebook

Peter Thiel, who gave $500,000 to the fledgling Facebook in 2004, sold 20.1 million shares of the social network last week, making $395.8 million.

The report came from a filing with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which added to his already $640.1 million he made on the initial public offering, is more than $1 billion, according to Bloomberg News. That's a huge return on investment.  

A spokesman for Thiel declined to comment on the sale. 

Thiel sold just after the "lock-up" period ended last week, when 271.1 million shares were released on the market. Another 1.44 billion shares will be available through November. Although some had argued that investors wouldn't flood the market with shares and drop the price, Thiel apparently did. Regardless, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is now holding meetings to keep employees from selling in the next few months to keep the stock price stable.

Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case. Facebook stock fell to its lowest ever on Friday to $19, less than half of its IPO.

 
 
 
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