Overstock CEO Sells $20 Million Worth of Stock For Blockchain Project Reinvesting

Overstock CEO has decided to sell over $20 million dollars worth of stock on Thursday, Friday and Monday. The intention has been taken in order to reinvest the funds in another project the company has.

The information has been released in an open letter to investors. He explained that he dumped 10% of his shares but that he is still in the game.

The letter written by Overstock Founder and CEO Patrick Byrne, said:

“I’ve cashed in 1/10 of my chips (most of it, to reinvest next to you). Don’t worry, I’m still in the game, and we’re going to bring this House to its knees.”

Byrne sold $15.8 million dollars worth of stock on Thursday and Friday, and $4.9 million dollars on Monday, as per a form 4 SEC filing. During that time, the price of he share fell 12%.

This is not the first time that the information about his intention to sell his stock is disclosed. Byrne informed his plans back in March 2018 in a SEC filing. He explained that the funds were going to be used to fund sidecar investments.

The online retailer sells products like furniture, home decor and jewelry. However, the company is also trying to enter the blockchain industry. Back in 2014, the company launched the Medici Ventures division that aims to oversee blockchain investments.

During this year, the company’s stock lost around 60%. However, Byrne blamed that this is due to the fact that virtual currencies are in a bear trend since the beginning of the year. Indeed, Bitcoin and other virtual currencies lost between 65% and 90% of their value.

Indeed, Byrne commented that there is a strong correlation between the price of Bitcoin and OSTK, but he said that they do not hold significant amounts of Bitcoin.

Overstock shares experienced an important surge in August after the Hong Kong equity firm known as GSR Capital announced an investment of $270 million dollars into the blockchain subsidiary tZero. With this investment, the private equity firm will have an 18 percent stake in the subsidiary.

tZero has plans to launch and start a cryptocurrency exchange. The company has already informed that it has a license for an alternative trading system.

Additionally, the company is currently being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the sale of digital tokens. This is part of a broader strategy of the SEC to investigate and regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs), which have expanded all over the world in the last years. Nonetheless, in August, the total ICO fundraising received by companies reached its lowest point since May 2017.