Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, is to sell stock in the investment bank for the first time since he joined 18 years ago.
The banking veteran, 67, intends to sell one million shares, worth about $140 million at present market prices, for “financial diversification and tax-planning purposes”.
The sale will account for less than 10 per cent of the approximately 8.6 million shares Dimon and his family hold, including performance shares that have not yet vested and stock options. Dimon’s position in the group is worth about $1.4 billion.
A company spokesman said that the sale was not related to leadership succession at America’s biggest bank, adding that Dimon had “no plans to enter into another such sale but will of course consider his financial planning needs over time”.
In a regulatory filing on Friday the bank said: “Dimon continues to believe the company’s prospects are very strong and his stake in the company will remain very significant.”
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Dimon, who has an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion according to Forbes, became chief executive in 2006 and chairman a year later. He had previously been made president and chief operating officer after JP Morgan’s merger with Bank One Corporation in 2004, where he had been chairman since 2000.
Shares in JP Morgan have risen 250 per cent during Dimon’s tenure as chief executive, giving the group a market capitalisation of $392 billion.
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During his time in charge, Dimon has received performance awards and made personal investments in the bank’s stock, including the purchase of half a million JP Morgan shares for just over $250 million in 2016.
The bank used to emphasise the fact that Dimon had “not sold a single share of JP Morgan Chase common stock”, with Dimon himself saying “I would buy that stock” at an investor day in May last year.
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Shares in JP Morgan, which have risen by more than 25 per cent in the past five years, closed down $5.11, or 3.6 per cent, at $135.65 in New York last night.
