Deliveroo’s co-founder and chief executive sold a £47 million stake in the food delivery company to pay off his tax debt.
According to stock exchange filings, the sale is to help Will Shu, 42, pay the tax due on units of restricted stock issued as part of an initial public offering. public value of £7.6 billion in March.
The fight against restricted share units has given Shu almost 22.5m shares worth £62.5m at a price of 278p a share. He sold 16.9 million shares at a similar price, raising £47 million, making it possible for him to pay his tax liability on the restricted stock units.
Adam Miller, 42, chief financial officer of Deliveroo, made £2.4 million buying 854,200 units of restricted stock. He liquidated £1.93 million worth of shares to pay his tax bill.
Deliveroo, founded in 2013 by Shu and Greg Orlowski, who left the company in February 2016, is famous in the UK for its bicycle food delivery workers with brightly colored backpacks decorated with kangaroo icon. The company works with 100,000 delivery people and 117,000 restaurants in dozens of countries.
Its listing was controversial and has been dubbed the worst initial public offering in London history after shares fell 30% below the issue price of 390p on its first day of trading.
They rallied back above 390p in August but have been volatile since.
News of yesterday’s stock sale, conducted through an accelerated bookbinding process and booked to institutions, sent shares down 27½p, or 9.5%, to 262½p. The price drop comes despite a statement from the company that neither Shu nor Miller will withhold any net proceeds from the transaction.
Although both men were prohibited from selling shares for 12 months after their initial public offering, the arrangements detailed in the prospectus did allow the stock to be sold to meet tax obligations. from restricted stock units or other stock options.
