Facebook CEO

Facebook revealed in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the social network’s CEO will not be selling his Facebook stock for at least a year.

"Mark Zuckerberg …has informed us that he has no intention to conduct any sale transactions in our securities for at least 12 months," said the company in a SEC filing this week. "Mr. Zuckerberg currently holds in aggregate approximately 444 million shares of Class B common stock as well as 60 million shares of Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of an option."

The CEO, however, sold more than 30 million Facebook shares shortly after the company went public to help pay off his taxes.

Investors have recently been wary of Facebook stock after it tumbled to more than half of its share price since its IPO.

Last month early investors were given the OK to sell their Facebook shares for the first time.

The ending of the lockout period for early investors saw an offload of more than 270 million shares in one day.

The company’s $16bn IPO made it the largest technology IPO in history with shares initially priced at $38. Yet, sceptics were proven right as Facebook reported disappointing figures in its first earnings report since its IPO, which caused shares to tumble below $24 at the time.

In July, the company reported a net loss of $157m in the second quarter compared to a net income of $240m in the same quarter a year ago.

The company’s second quarter loss was largely affected by share based compensation expenses for employees in the wake of its IPO, which totalled $1.3bn.

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