Since the start of February, the financial landscape has been a rollercoaster, with CEOs making notable stock moves and markets reacting to economic fluctuations.
Zuckerberg Topping the List
Among the notable sellers are JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Palo Alto Networks (PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora. Dimon sold more than 866,361 shares, valued at around $233.7 million late last month. Though the sale was pre-planned as part of his strategy to sell 1 million shares in 2025, it happened as JPMorgan’s stock was already declining. Since his sale on Feb. 20, JPMorgan’s stock has dropped about 14%.
The more discussed selling of shares was Palantir Technologies’ (PLTR) CEO Alex Karp, who set up a new trading plan under Rule 10b5-1 to sell up to 9,975,000 shares by September 12, 2025. Based on recent prices, this could be around $1.23 billion. This plan replaces a previous one from December 2023, which allowed for selling up to 48.9 million shares. In 2024, Karp sold about 40.7 million shares, totaling $1.95 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg started 2025 by extending his stock sales from the previous year. Among the banking and tech CEOs who recently sold shares, he topped the list for the highest value recouped. The Meta (META) CEO sold 431,858 shares for a total of $307.2 million between Feb. 3 and Feb. 21. The February pre-arranged stock sales came after Zuckerberg sold more than $2.2 billion worth of shares last year, according to a Fortune analysis. Although Meta stock hit an all-time high close to $728 in February, the stock has not been immune to the market’s recent volatility. Meta’s shares have fallen 16% since Zuckerberg sold his shares in February.
Investors and Market Reactions
Investors didn’t take the CEO sell-offs lightly, either. Seeing top executives cash out while stock prices dropped only fueled anxiety in an already anxious market. The timing, though pre-arranged, raised eyebrows, especially with recession talk and interest rate uncertainty keeping traders in defense mode. As a result, confidence took another hit, adding to the overall market turbulence.
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 experienced a sharp decline, falling 3.8% on March 3, marking its largest single-day drop since October 2022. At its lowest point, the index was down 4.7%, resulting in a market value loss exceeding $1 trillion. Factors contributing to this decline include tariff-related uncertainties, decreased confidence in AI spending, and disappointing inflation and labor data, all fueling recession fears.
The broader markets haven’t been sitting still, either. On March 3, President Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, sparking fears of a trade war. This led to a significant sell-off on Wall Street, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 4% and Tesla (TSLA) shares plunging 15.3% in yesterday’s “bloodbath” on Wall Street. The S&P 500 (SPX) and Dow Jones (DJIA) also took hits, losing 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively, wiping out gains made since Trump’s election.
Tipranks’ Comparison Tool
Using Tipranks’ Comparison Tool gives us a broader perspective on different industries. Here, we can examine how the prominent tech stocks compare to each other after yesterday’s trading day.
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