- Jefferies CEO Rich Handler sold $65 million in company stock to buy a luxury yacht.
- He’s buying a Westport 164 from his friend and Jefferies client Tilman Fertitta.
- Handler isn’t planning any more stock sales, he said on Wednesday.
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Jefferies CEO Rich Handler sold $65 million of his stock in the company to buy himself a gift — a luxury yacht.
Handler sold 1.5 million shares, or 7% of his holdings, to purchase a “personal boat and to pay tax obligations,” the investment bank said in a Wednesday statement.
“My sale of shares today was a gift to myself and my family, and I do not intend to sell any further shares,” Handler said in the statement. “I remain extremely bullish on Jefferies.”
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The boat is a Westport 164 yacht and was purchased from Jefferies client and Handler’s longtime friend Tilman Fertitta, the Financial Times reported.
Fertitta is the billionaire CEO of hospitality company Landry’s and owns the Houston Rockets, an NBA team. The two men jointly own Lancadia Holdings, a blank-check company.
Handler, who has been with the bank since 1990, has received about 70% of his pay in the form of company shares, Jefferies said in the statement. He has previously sold shares only for tax purposes and charity, the bank said.
Jefferies did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Investors often view executives’ stock sales as a signal about lack of company confidence, so any sales are carefully messaged.
In October, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he would sell 1 million of his 8.6 million shares, his first sale since becoming CEO in 2006. The filing announcing the planned sale said Dimon chose to sell the stocks “for financial diversification and tax-planning purposes” and that he “continues to believe the company’s prospects are very strong.” He sold the first of the sets of shares in February for $150 million and sold the remainder earlier this month, pocketing $183 million in total proceeds.