Mark Zuckerberg is selling Meta Platforms Inc stock for the first time in two years, after the social media giant rapidly rebounded from a tumultuous 2022.

The Meta co-founder’s trust as well as entities for his charitable and political giving unloaded about 682,000 shares worth almost US$185 million  in November through trading plans, with the latest disclosed last Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from regulatory filings. That’s the first time entities that manage Zuckerberg’s fortune have sold shares since November 2021.

Meta surged 172% this year through the end of November, outperforming all major US tech companies other than Nvidia Corp. That’s helping to maximise the proceeds for Zuckerberg’s activities outside Meta, which include venture capital, scientific research and impact investments.

He’s regularly offloaded blocks of Meta stock over the past decade, but didn’t sell a single share in 2022, when catastrophic quarterly results led to one of the biggest one-day stock wipe-outs and Meta’s worst annual performance since its 2012 initial public offering.

Meta’s stock is now approaching the record highs set in 2021, when Zuckerberg as well as his charitable foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, sold more than US$1 billion of the Menlo Park, California-based company’s shares. The 39-year-old still holds about 13% of Meta, making up almost all of his US$117.7 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, 38, have previously pledged to allocate 99% of their wealth to philanthropic causes during their lifetimes, such as promoting equality and curing diseases. More than half of the recent Meta stock sales came from shares controlled by their namesake foundation.

The smallest portion of the selling spree - about US$19 million - went to the advocacy arm of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The organisation has funded efforts to mobilise voters as well as to advance immigration reform.

Earlier this year, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pledged US$250 million to establish a biomedical research hub in Chicago. It previously backed efforts to address the San Francisco Bay area’s housing shortage and made early-stage investments to train software developers in Africa. 

Founded in 2015, the Palo Alto, California-based foundation has net assets of about US$6.3 billion, and is led by both Zuckerberg and Chan, according to latest filings. Meta’s stock has risen more than 200% since they pledged eight years ago to give away most of their fortune.

  - Bloomberg