Xero chairman Sam Knowles and chief operating officer Alastair Grigg cashed in some of their shares, which have more than tripled in price in the past 12 months, after a 'black-out' period ended when the accounting software-developer reported its annual result last week.
Notices lodged with the stock exchange show Knowles, who was the founding chief executive of Kiwibank, sold 100,000 shares at $13.04 apiece, reaping $1.3 million on May 29, and Griggs sold 200,000 on the same day at the same price, netting $2.6 million and a further 15,300 at $13 each, for $199,000.
The shares gained 1.2 per cent to $13.40 today, and have surged 74 per cent this year alone. The transactions leave Knowles with 469,000 shares worth $6.28 million at today's price, and Griggs with 1.19 million shares worth almost $16 million.
The directors and officers of Xero were in a restricted trading period in the 30 days leading up to the earnings result.
While Griggs and Knowles sold down, chief revenue officer Sam McLean, who joined Xero in March from Google, bought 15,300 shares at $13 apiece.
