Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov decided to reduce his holdings in Facebook Inc. This was after his Russian Internet firm sold a stake valued more than US525 million. Usmanov took advantage of a 57% increase in the stock price this year.
Today, Mail.ru Group Ltd. controlled by the billionaire said that it sold its remaining 14.2 million Facebook shares last July and August. Shares of Facebook had rebounded this year going garnering a higher valuation compared to its pegged value at its IPO last year. The current market has valued the social media giant at USD102 billion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, good timing with technology investments had helped Usmanov become the richest man in Russia. Mail.ru's lock up period on the Facebook stake had expired last may. However, a bet to wait for a few months had allowed it to reap further gains.
Alexander Vengranovich, an analyst at Otkritie Capital said, "Mail.ru earned more than expected on selling Facebook shares as they didn't sell immediately in May. The company is now likely to pay special dividends from the sale as they did earlier."
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