Bancel’s most recent statements suggest he’s interested in more philanthropy than just his most recent stock option sales.
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Earlier this week, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said he plans to exercise 4.59 million stock options at a rate of 80,000 per week, sell the shares and donate the proceeds to charity. The proceeds would probably come to around $355 million after state and federal taxes, and it will take about a year to complete. He has urged the media not to jump to conclusions about his motives.
“In the coming months, there may be uninformed commentary about my motivations for these sales, but I want to share this news now and to provide you with transparence on our plans,” Bancel wrote in a blog post. “I believe that the best days of Moderna are ahead.”
Regardless of motives, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bancel said, “We’ve told the kids that they get a good education, we take care of that. They’ll get the family house, you know. But the rest we’re going to give away.”
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, Bancel’s net worth is about $4.1 billion. But his most recent statements suggest he’s interested in more philanthropy than just his most recent stock option sales. He currently holds a 1.36% stake in Moderna after he sold off about one-sixth of his holdings at the end of this year’s first quarter.
Philanthropically, Bancel has indicated he’s interested in doing more on climate change and has invested in climate-related companies, such as a stake in nuclear fusion energy startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
Apparently, his thinking is similar to those of several other billionaires, who have pledged to give away the bulk of their fortunes. These include MacKenzie Scott, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. In June of 2021, Buffett had donated another $4.1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares to charity, which put him halfway to completing a 2006 pledge he made to give all of his shares away to five organizations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation, as of 2019, had an endowment of $49.8 billion.
MacKenzie Scott is former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife. Earlier this week, Scott donated $122 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Since 2019, she has donated approximately $12 billion to various organizations. In March of this year, she donated $3.9 billion to several organizations, including Planned Parenthood and Habitat for Humanity. Earlier donations have included the Children’s Defense Fund and National Equity Project.
Because Bancel doesn’t want his decision to affect Moderna’s stock prices, he plans to set up a trading plan that would exercise 80,000 shares each week until all the options are fully exercised by around June 2023. He wrote in a blog that his Jesuit background motivated the donations by providing an education that supported the “powerful idea” of servant leadership, or “existing to serve a greater good.”
At this time, Bancel has not specified causes or charities he plans to donate to.
In his blog post, Bancel noted that, “My first stock option grant, as CEO of Moderna, was granted to me in 2013. It is a 10-year grant that expires in August 2023. I have never exercised a single stock option since joining Moderna in July 2011, almost 11 years ago. I have sold Moderna stock under 10b5-1 plans (which are pre-established plans that allow executives and others to buy or sell stock when they are not in possession of inside information), and gifted Moderna stock to charity, but all of this was stock I purchased with my family’s savings prior to the company going public. I am the only investor in the world who invested in Moderna by purchasing in the Series A, B, C, D, E, F and G fundraising rounds prior to our IPO. If we do not exercise this stock option, it will expire and be worthless. As such, our choice is clear: Exercise the option and use this moment to create positive change in the world.”
