Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino has sold nearly $160 million worth of stock in his company since 2022’s beginning, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings have revealed.
Digital Music News first reported on Rapino’s multimillion-dollar stock selloff two days back, when Live Nation officially launched in the Philippines. Despite having dipped in value by about 12 percent across the last four months, Live Nation stock (NYSE: LYV) remains 30 percent above its price point as of late April of 2021, amid the ongoing return of crowd-based entertainment.
And Rapino, who’s served as Live Nation’s head for nearly 17 years, has evidently capitalized upon the stock-price resurgence, which comes after valuation dips for high-profile companies and a slip throughout the broader market.
On January 13th, for instance, Thunder Bay, Ontario-born Rapino disposed of 29,489 Live Nation shares (“withheld for tax purposes upon vesting of restricted stock grants”) at $113.87 apiece, generating a cool $3,357,912.43 in the process, according to SEC documents. Post-transaction, Rapino held a substantial 2,762,260 more shares in his company, and the figure actually increased in the following months as the executive unlocked massive stock bonuses and exercised related options.
(Several of Rapino’s fellow Live Nation higher-ups, including president and CFO Joe Berchtold, EVP John Hopmans, EVP and general counsel Michael Rowles, and chief accounting officer Brian Capo, have also recently sold off a considerable number of shares and exercised stock options.)
Back to the LYV stock sales of Rapino, however, the Live Nation CEO after offloading the aforementioned 29,489 shares in mid-January cashed in on 20,271 shares at $115.75 each in mid-February.
By month, Michael Rapino’s Live Nation stock sales, bonuses, and options to this point in 2022 include:
January Stock Sales – $3,357,912.43
1/13 – 29,489 shares sold for $113.87 each, generating $3,357,912.43. Said shares will be “withheld for tax purposes upon vesting of restricted stock grants.”
February Stock Sales – $2,346,368.25
Running Total: $5,704,280.68
2/13 – 20,271 shares (“withheld for tax purposes upon vesting of restricted stock grants”) sold for $115.75 each, generating $2,346,368.25.
March Stock Sales – $75,161,105.69
Running Total: $80,865,386.37
Shares Optioned/Received Through Bonuses: 918,252
3/3 – Rapino secured 118,252 Live Nation shares for $0 as “a restricted stock award” under a 2005 stock-incentive plan.
92,545 of the shares “will vest 50% on May 10, 2022 and 50% on August 16, 2022.” 50 percent of the remaining 25,707 shares will vest on March 31st, 2023, and the other half will vest on March 31st, 2024, “if certain financial performance targets specified by the company’s Compensation Committee are achieved for the year of the grant.”
3/16 – 100,000 shares optioned at $8.71 apiece, 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,681,091.75. The sales and purchase were made pursuant to a “trading plan to exercise options which were granted in 2012 and would otherwise expire in 2022.”
“Following all transactions under the trading plan, which will exercise all expiring options,” reads the SEC filing, “Mr. Rapino expects to then hold approximately 3.8 million shares of common stock, inclusive of all other common stock and restricted stock holdings, plus options to acquire an additional 627,602 shares of common stock.”
3/17 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.71), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,564,799.15.
3/18 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.71), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,741,648.13.
3/23 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.71), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $9,023,161.36.
3/24 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.71), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $9,138,135.08.
3/25 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77 apiece), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $9,059,837.21.
3/30 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $9,208,409.47.
3/31 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $9,247,645.10, plus a separate 29,721 shares sold for $3,496,378.44 and “withheld for tax purposes upon vesting of restricted stock grants.”
April Stock Sales – $77,720,434.16
Grand Total: $158,585,820.53
Shares Optioned: 900,000
4/1 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77 apiece), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $9,041,405.68.
4/6 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,562,915.88.
4/7 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,490,613.32.
4/8 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,482,655.19.
4/13 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,756,632.68.
4/14 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,774,075.49.
4/20 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,826,120.78.
4/21 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,486,404.26.
4/22 – 100,000 shares optioned ($8.77), 78,000 shares sold for a total of $8,299,610.88.